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diff --git a/41264-0.txt b/41264-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9d5528b --- /dev/null +++ b/41264-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,19657 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41264 *** + +Transcriber's notes: + +(1) Numbers following letters (without space) like C2 were originally + printed in subscript. Letter subscripts are preceded by an + underscore, like C_n. + +(2) Characters following a carat (^) were printed in superscript. + +(3) Side-notes were relocated to function as titles of their respective + paragraphs. + +(4) Macrons and breves above letters and dots below letters were not + inserted. + +(5) [root] stands for the root symbol; [alpha], [beta], etc. for greek + letters. + +(6) The following typographical errors have been corrected: + + ARTICLE JAMAICA: "The British government awarded them compensation + at the rate of £19 per slave, the market value of slaves at the + time being £35, but most of this compensation went into the hands + of the planters' creditors." 'compensation' amended from + 'conpensation'. + + ARTICLE JAMESON, LEANDER STARR: "They were tried in London under + the Foreign Enlistment Act in May 1896, and Dr Jameson was + sentenced to fifteen months' imprisonment at Holloway." + 'imprisonment' amended from 'inprisonment'. + + ARTICLE JAPAN: "The pots in which these wonders of patient skill + are grown have to be themselves fine specimens of the ceramist's + craft, and as much as £200 is sometimes paid for a notably well + trained tree." "ceramist's" amended from "keramist's". + + ARTICLE JAPAN: "... named Iwasa Matahei, had even made a specialty + of this class of motive; but so little is known of Matahei and his + work that even his period is a matter of dispute ..." 'specialty' + amended from 'speciality'. + + ARTICLE JAPAN: "At the naval cadet academy--originally situated in + Tokyo but now at Etajima near Kure--aspirants for service as naval + officers receive a 3 years' academical course and 1 year's training + at sea ..." 'Tokyo' amended from 'Tkoyo'. + + + + + ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA + + A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE + AND GENERAL INFORMATION + + ELEVENTH EDITION + + + VOLUME XV, SLICE II + + Jacobites to Japan (part) + + + + +ARTICLES IN THIS SLICE: + + + JACOBITES JAMES III. + JACOBS, CHRISTIAN WILHELM JAMES IV. + JACOBS CAVERN JAMES V. + JACOBSEN, JENS PETER JAMES I. (king of Aragon) + JACOB'S WELL JAMES II. + JACOBUS DE VORAGINE JAMES II. (king of Majorca) + JACOTOT, JOSEPH JAMES III. (king of Majorca) + JACQUARD, JOSEPH MARIE JAMES (prince of Wales) + JACQUERIE, THE JAMES, DAVID + JACTITATION JAMES, GEORGE PAYNE RAINSFORD + JADE (estuary of the North Sea) JAMES, HENRY + JADE (ornamental stones) JAMES, JOHN ANGELL + JAEN (province of Spain) JAMES, THOMAS + JAEN (city of Spain) JAMES, WILLIAM (English historian) + JAFARABAD JAMES, WILLIAM (American philosopher) + JAFFNA JAMES OF HEREFORD, HENRY JAMES + JÄGER, GUSTAV JAMES, EPISTLE OF + JÄGERNDORF JAMESON, ANNA BROWNELL + JAGERSFONTEIN JAMESON, GEORGE + JAGO, RICHARD JAMESON, LEANDER STARR + JAGUAR JAMESON, ROBERT + JAGUARONDI JAMESTOWN (North Dakota, U.S.A.) + JAHANABAD JAMESTOWN (New York, U.S.A.) + JAHANGIR JAMESTOWN (Virginia, U.S.A.) + JAHIZ JAMI + JAHN, FRIEDRICH LUDWIG JAMIESON, JOHN + JAHN, JOHANN JAMIESON, ROBERT + JAHN, OTTO JAMKHANDI + JAHRUM JAMMU + JAINS JAMNIA + JAIPUR JAMRUD + JAISALMER JAMS AND JELLIES + JAJCE JANESVILLE + JAJPUR JANET, PAUL + JAKOB, LUDWIG HEINRICH VON JANGIPUR + JAKOVA JANIN, JULES GABRIEL + JAKUNS JANISSARIES + JALALABAD JANIUAY + JALAP JANJIRA + JALAPA JAN MAYEN + JALAUN JANSEN, CORNELIUS + JALISCO JANSENISM + JALNA JANSSEN, CORNELIUS + JALPAIGURI JANSSEN, JOHANNES + JAMAICA (island) JANSSEN, PIERRE JULES CÉSAR + JAMAICA (New York, U.S.A.) JANSSENS, VICTOR HONORIUS + JAMB JANSSENS VAN NUYSSEN, ABRAHAM + JAMES (name) JANUARIUS, ST + JAMES (New Testament) JANUARY + JAMES I. (king of Great Britain) JANUS + JAMES II. JAORA + JAMES I. (king of Scotland) JAPAN (part) + JAMES II. + + + + +JACOBITES (from Lat. _Jacobus_, James), the name given after the +revolution of 1688 to the adherents, first of the exiled English king +James II., then of his descendants, and after the extinction of the +latter in 1807, of the descendants of Charles I., i.e. of the exiled +house of Stuart. + +The history of the Jacobites, culminating in the risings of 1715 and +1745, is part of the general history of England (q.v.), and especially +of Scotland (q.v.), in which country they were comparatively more +numerous and more active, while there was also a large number of +Jacobites in Ireland. They were recruited largely, but not solely, from +among the Roman Catholics, and the Protestants among them were often +identical with the Non-Jurors. Owing to a variety of causes Jacobitism +began to lose ground after the accession of George I. and the +suppression of the revolt of 1715; and the total failure of the rising +of 1745 may be said to mark its end as a serious political force. In +1765 Horace Walpole said that "Jacobitism, the concealed mother of the +latter (i.e. Toryism), was extinct," but as a sentiment it remained for +some time longer, and may even be said to exist to-day. In 1750, during +a strike of coal workers at Elswick, James III. was proclaimed king; in +1780 certain persons walked out of the Roman Catholic Church at Hexham +when George III. was prayed for; and as late as 1784 a Jacobite rising +was talked about. Northumberland was thus a Jacobite stronghold; and in +Manchester, where in 1777 according to an American observer Jacobitism +"is openly professed," a Jacobite rendezvous known as "John Shaw's Club" +lasted from 1733 to 1892. North Wales was another Jacobite centre. The +"Cycle of the White Rose"--the white rose being the badge of the +Stuarts--composed of members of the principal Welsh families around +Wrexham, including the Williams-Wynns of Wynnstay, lasted from 1710 +until some time between 1850 and 1860. Jacobite traditions also lingered +among the great families of the Scottish Highlands; the last person to +suffer death as a Jacobite was Archibald Cameron, a son of Cameron of +Lochiel, who was executed in 1753. Dr Johnson's Jacobite sympathies are +well known, and on the death of Victor Emmanuel I., the ex-king of +Sardinia, in 1824, Lord Liverpool wrote to Canning saying "there are +those who think that the ex-king was the lawful king of Great Britain." +Until the accession of King Edward VII. finger-bowls were not placed +upon the royal dinner-table, because in former times those who secretly +sympathized with the Jacobites were in the habit of drinking to the king +_over the water_. The romantic side of Jacobitism was stimulated by Sir +Walter Scott's _Waverley_, and many Jacobite poems were written during +the 19th century. + + The chief collections of Jacobite poems are: Charles Mackay's + _Jacobite Songs and Ballads of Scotland, 1688-1746, with Appendix of + Modern Jacobite Songs_ (1861); G. S. Macquoid's _Jacobite Songs and + Ballads_ (1888); and _English Jacobite Ballads_, edited by A. B. + Grosart from the Towneley manuscripts (1877). + +Upon the death of Henry Stuart, Cardinal York, the last of James II.'s +descendants, in 1807, the rightful occupant of the British throne +according to legitimist principles was to be found among the descendants +of Henrietta, daughter of Charles I., who married Philip I., duke of +Orleans. Henrietta's daughter, Anne Marie (1669-1728), became the wife +of Victor Amadeus II., duke of Savoy, afterwards king of Sardinia; her +son was King Charles Emmanuel III., and her grandson Victor Amadeus III. +The latter's son, King Victor Emmanuel I., left no sons, and his eldest +daughter, Marie Beatrice, married Francis IV., duke of Modena, whose +son Ferdinand (d. 1849) left an only daughter, Marie Thérèse (b. 1849). +This lady, the wife of Prince Louis of Bavaria, was in 1910 the senior +member of the Stuart family, and according to the legitimists the +rightful sovereign of Great Britain and Ireland. + + _Table showing the succession to the crown of Great Britain and + Ireland according to Jacobite principles._ + + Charles I. (1600-1649) + | + Henrietta (1644-1670) = + Philip I., duke of Orleans (1640-1701) + | + Anne Marie (1669-1728) = + Victor Amadeus II, king of Sardinia (1666-1732) + | + Charles Emmanuel III. + king of Sardinia (1701-1773) + | + Victor Amadeus III. + king of Sardinia (1726-1796) + | + Victor Emmanuel I. + king of Sardinia (1759-1824) + | + Marie Beatrice (c. 1780-1840) = + Francis IV., duke of Modena (1779-1846) + | + Ferdinand (1821-1849) + | + Marie Thérèse (b. 1849) = + Louis, prince of Bavaria (b. 1845) + | + +--------------------+------------+------------+ + | | | + Rupert, prince Charles Francis + of Bavaria (b. 1869) (b. 1874) (b. 1875) + +---------------+--------------+ + | | | + Luitpold Albert Rudolph + (b. 1901) (b. 1905) (b. 1909) + + Among the modern Jacobite, or legitimist, societies perhaps the most + important is the "Order of the White Rose," which has a branch in + Canada and the United States. The order holds that sovereign authority + is of divine sanction, and that the execution of Charles I. and the + revolution of 1688 were national crimes; it exists to study the + history of the Stuarts, to oppose all democratic tendencies, and in + general to maintain the theory that kingship is independent of all + parliamentary authority and popular approval. The order, which was + instituted in 1886, was responsible for the Stuart exhibition of 1889, + and has a newspaper, the _Royalist_. Among other societies with + similar objects in view are the "Thames Valley Legitimist Club" and + the "Legitimist Jacobite League of Great Britain and Ireland." + + See _Historical Papers relating to the Jacobite Period_, edited by J. + Allardyce (Aberdeen, 1895-1896); James Hogg, _The Jacobite Relics of + Scotland_ (Edinburgh, 1819-1821); and F. W. Head, _The Fallen Stuarts_ + (Cambridge, 1901). The marquis de Ruvigny has compiled _The Jacobite + Peerage_ (Edinburgh, 1904), a work which purports to give a list of + all the titles and honours conferred by the kings of the exiled House + of Stuart. (A. W. H.*) + + + + +JACOBS, CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH WILHELM (1764-1847), German classical +scholar, was born at Gotha on the 6th of October 1764. After studying +philology and theology at Jena and Göttingen, in 1785 he became teacher +in the gymnasium of his native town, and in 1802 was appointed to an +office in the public library. In 1807 he became classical tutor in the +lyceum of Munich, but, disgusted at the attacks made upon him by the old +Bavarian Catholic party, who resented the introduction of "north German" +teachers, he returned to Gotha in 1810 to take charge of the library and +the numismatic cabinet. He remained in Gotha till his death on the 30th +of March 1847. Jacobs was an extremely successful teacher; he took great +interest in the affairs of his country, and was a publicist of no mean +order. But his great work was an edition of the Greek Anthology, with +copious notes, in 13 volumes (1798-1814), supplemented by a revised text +from the Codex Palatinus (1814-1817). He published also notes on Horace, +Stobaeus, Euripides, Athenaeus and the _Iliaca_ of Tzetzes; translations +of Aelian (_History of Animals_); many of the Greek romances; +Philostratus; poetical versions of much of the Greek Anthology; +miscellaneous essays on classical subjects; and some very successful +school books. His translation of the political speeches of Demosthenes +was undertaken with the express purpose of rousing his country against +Napoleon, whom he regarded as a second Philip of Macedon. + + See E. F. Wüstemann, _Friderici Jacobsii laudatio_ (Gotha, 1848); C. + Bursian, _Geschichte der classischen Philologie in Deutschland_; and + the appreciative article by C. Regel in _Allgemeine deutsche + Biographie_. + + + + +JACOBS CAVERN, a cavern in latitude 36° 35´ N., 2 m. E. of Pineville, +McDonald county, Missouri, named after its discoverer, E. H. Jacobs, of +Bentonville, Arkansas. It was scientifically explored by him, in company +with Professors Charles Peabody and Warren K. Moorehead, in 1903. The +results were published in that year by Jacobs in the _Benton County +Sun_; by C. N. Gould in _Science_, July 31, 1903; by Peabody in the _Am. +Anthropologist_, Sept. 1903; and in the _Am. Journ. Archaeology_, 1904; +and by Peabody and Moorehead, 1904, as _Bulletin I._ of the Dept. of +Archaeology in Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., in the museum of which +are exhibits, maps and photographs. + +Jacobs Cavern is one of the smaller caves, hardly more than a +rock-shelter, and is entirely in the "St Joe Limestone" of the +sub-carboniferous age. Its roof is a single flat stratum of limestone; +its walls are well marked by lines of stratification; dripstone also +partly covers the walls, fills a deep fissure at the end of the cave, +and spreads over the floor, where it mingles with an ancient bed of +ashes, forming an ash-breccia (mostly firm and solid) that encloses +fragments of sandstone, flint spalls, flint implements, charcoal and +bones. Underneath is the true floor of the cave, a mass of homogeneous +yellow clay, one metre in thickness. It holds scattered fragments of +limestone, and is itself the result of limestone degeneration. The +length of the opening is over 21 metres; its depth 14 metres, and the +height of roof above the undisturbed ash deposit varied from 1 m. 20 cm. +to 2 m. 60 cm. The bone recess at the end was from 50 cm. to 80 cm. in +height. The stratum of ashes was from 50 cm. to 1 m. 50 cm. thick. + +The ash surface was staked off into square metres, and the substance +carefully removed in order. Each stalactite, stalagmite and pilaster was +measured, numbered, and removed in sections. Six human skeletons were +found buried in the ashes. Seven-tenths of a cubic metre of animal bones +were found: deer, bear, wolf, raccoon, opossum, beaver, buffalo, elk, +turkey, woodchuck, tortoise and hog; all contemporary with man's +occupancy. Three stone metates, one stone axe, one celt and fifteen +hammer-stones were found. Jacobs Cavern was peculiarly rich in flint +knives and projectile points. The sum total amounts to 419 objects, +besides hundreds of fragments, cores, spalls and rejects, retained for +study and comparison. Considerable numbers of bone or horn awls were +found in the ashes, as well as fragments of pottery, but no "ceremonial" +objects. + +The rude type of the implements, the absence of fine pottery, and the +peculiarities of the human remains, indicate a race of occupants more +ancient than the "mound-builders." The deepest implement observed was +buried 50 cm. under the stalagmitic surface. Dr. Hovey has proved that +the rate of stalagmitic growth in Wyandotte Cave, Indiana, is .0254 cm. +annually; and if that was the rate in Jacobs Cavern, 1968 years would +have been needed for the embedding of that implement. Polished rocks +outside the cavern and pictographs in the vicinity indicate the work of +a prehistoric race earlier than the Osage Indians, who were the historic +owners previous to the advent of the white man. (H. C. H.) + + + + +JACOBSEN, JENS PETER (1847-1885), Danish imaginative writer, was born at +Thisted in Jutland, on the 7th of April 1847; he was the eldest of the +five children of a prosperous merchant. He became a student at the +university of Copenhagen in 1868. As a boy he showed a remarkable turn +for science, particularly for botany. In 1870, although he was secretly +writing verses already, Jacobsen definitely adopted botany as a +profession. He was sent by a scientific body in Copenhagen to report on +the flora of the islands of Anholt and Læsö. About this time the +discoveries of Darwin began to exercise a fascination over him, and +finding them little understood in Denmark, he translated into Danish +_The Origin of Species_ and _The Descent of Man_. In the autumn of +1872, while collecting plants in a morass near Ordrup, he contracted +pulmonary disease. His illness, which cut him off from scientific +investigation, drove him to literature. He met the famous critic, Dr +Georg Brandes, who was struck by his powers of expression, and under his +influence, in the spring of 1873, Jacobsen began his great historical +romance of _Marie Grubbe_. His method of composition was painful and +elaborate, and his work was not ready for publication until the close of +1876. In 1879 he was too ill to write at all; but in 1880 an improvement +came, and he finished his second novel, _Niels Lyhne_. In 1882 he +published a volume of six short stories, most of them written a few +years earlier, called, from the first of them, _Mogens_. After this he +wrote no more, but lingered on in his mother's house at Thisted until +the 30th of April 1885. In 1886 his posthumous fragments were collected. +It was early recognized that Jacobsen was the greatest artist in prose +that Denmark has produced. He has been compared with Flaubert, with De +Quincey, with Pater; but these parallelisms merely express a sense of +the intense individuality of his style, and of his untiring pursuit of +beauty in colour, form and melody. Although he wrote so little, and +crossed the living stage so hurriedly, his influence in the North has +been far-reaching. It may be said that no one in Denmark or Norway has +tried to write prose carefully since 1880 whose efforts have not been in +some degree modified by the example of Jacobsen's laborious art. + + His _Samlede Skrifter_ appeared in two volumes in 1888; in 1899 his + letters (_Breve_) were edited by Edvard Brandes. In 1896 an English + translation of part of the former was published under the title of + _Siren Voices: Niels Lyhne_, by Miss E. F. L. Robertson. (E. G.) + + + + +JACOB'S WELL, the scene of the conversation between Jesus and the "woman +of Samaria" narrated in the Fourth Gospel, is described as being in the +neighbourhood of an otherwise unmentioned "city called Sychar." From the +time of Eusebius this city has been identified with Sychem or Shechem +(modern Nablus), and the well is still in existence 1½ m. E. of the +town, at the foot of Mt Gerizim. It is beneath one of the ruined arches +of a church mentioned by Jerome, and is reached by a few rough steps. +When Robinson visited it in 1838 it was 105 ft. deep, but it is now much +shallower and often dry. + + For a discussion of Sychar as distinct from Shechem see T. K. Cheyne, + art. "Sychar," in _Ency. Bibl._, col. 4830. It is possible that Sychar + should be placed at Tulul Balata, a mound about ½ m. W. of the well + (_Palestine Exploration Fund Statement_, 1907, p. 92 seq.); when that + village fell into ruin the name may have migrated to 'Askar, a village + on the lower slopes of Mt Ebal about 1¾ m. E.N.E. from Nablus and ½ m. + N. from Jacob's Well. It may be noted that the difficulty is not with + the location of the well, but with the identification of Sychar. + + + + +JACOBUS DE VORAGINE (c. 1230-c. 1298), Italian chronicler, archbishop of +Genoa, was born at the little village of Varazze, near Genoa, about the +year 1230. He entered the order of the friars preachers of St Dominic in +1244, and besides preaching with success in many parts of Italy, taught +in the schools of his own fraternity. He was provincial of Lombardy from +1267 till 1286, when he was removed at the meeting of the order in +Paris. He also represented his own province at the councils of Lucca +(1288) and Ferrara (1290). On the last occasion he was one of the four +delegates charged with signifying Nicholas IV.'s desire for the +deposition of Munio de Zamora, who had been master of the order from +1285, and was deprived of his office by a papal bull dated the 12th of +April 1291. In 1288 Nicholas empowered him to absolve the people of +Genoa for their offence in aiding the Sicilians against Charles II. +Early in 1292 the same pope, himself a Franciscan, summoned Jacobus to +Rome, intending to consecrate him archbishop of Genoa with his own +hands. He reached Rome on Palm Sunday (March 30), only to find his +patron ill of a deadly sickness, from which he died on Good Friday +(April 4). The cardinals, however, "propter honorem Communis Januae," +determined to carry out this consecration on the Sunday after Easter. He +was a good bishop, and especially distinguished himself by his' efforts +to appease the civil discords of Genoa. He died in 1298 or 1299, and was +buried in the Dominican church at Genoa. A story, mentioned by the +chronicler Echard as unworthy of credit, makes Boniface VIII., on the +first day of Lent, cast the ashes in the archbishop's eyes instead of on +his head, with the words, "Remember that thou art a Ghibelline, and with +thy fellow Ghibellines wilt return to naught." + + Jacobus de Voragine left a list of his own works. Speaking of himself + in his _Chronicon januense_, he says, "While he was in his order, and + after he had been made archbishop, he wrote many works. For he + compiled the legends of the saints (_Legendae sanctorum_) in one + volume, adding many things from the _Historia tripartita et + scholastica_, and from the chronicles of many writers." The other + writings he claims are two anonymous volumes of "Sermons concerning + all the Saints" whose yearly feasts the church celebrates. Of these + volumes, he adds, one is very diffuse, but the other short and + concise. Then follow _Sermones de omnibus evangeliis dominicalibus_ + for every Sunday in the year; _Sermones de omnibus evangeliis_, i.e. a + book of discourses on all the Gospels, from Ash Wednesday to the + Tuesday after Easter; and a treatise called "_Marialis_, qui totus est + de B. Maria compositus," consisting of about 160 discourses on the + attributes, titles, &c., of the Virgin Mary. In the same work the + archbishop claims to have written his _Chronicon januense_ in the + second year of his pontificate (1293), but it extends to 1296 or 1297. + To this list Echard adds several other works, such as a defence of the + Dominicans, printed at Venice in 1504, and a _Summa virtutum et + vitiorum Guillelmi Peraldi_, a Dominican who died about 1250. Jacobus + is also said by Sixtus of Siena (_Biblioth. Sacra_, lib. ix.) to have + translated the Old and New Testaments into his own tongue. "But," adds + Echard, "if he did so, the version lies so closely hid that there is + no recollection of it," and it may be added that it is highly + improbable that the man who compiled the Golden Legend ever conceived + the necessity of having the Scriptures in the vernacular. + + His two chief works are the _Chronicon januense_ and the _Golden + Legend_ or _Lombardica hystoria_. The former is partly printed in + Muratori (_Scriptores Rer. Ital._ ix. 6). It is divided into twelve + parts. The first four deal with the mythical history of Genoa from the + time of its founder, Janus, the first king of Italy, and its enlarger, + a second Janus "citizen of Troy", till its conversion to Christianity + "about twenty-five years after the passion of Christ." Part v. + professes to treat of the beginning, the growth and the perfection of + the city; but of the first period the writer candidly confesses he + knows nothing except by hearsay. The second period includes the + Genoese crusading exploits in the East, and extends to their victory + over the Pisans (c. 1130), while the third reaches down to the days of + the author's archbishopric. The sixth part deals with the constitution + of the city, the seventh and eighth with the duties of rulers and + citizens, the ninth with those of domestic life. The tenth gives the + ecclesiastical history of Genoa from the time of its first known + bishop, St Valentine, "whom we believe to have lived about 530 A.D.," + till 1133, when the city was raised to archiepiscopal rank. The + eleventh contains the lives of all the bishops in order, and includes + the chief events during their pontificates; the twelfth deals in the + same way with the archbishops, not forgetting the writer himself. + + The _Golden Legend_, one of the most popular religious works of the + middle ages, is a collection of the legendary lives of the greater + saints of the medieval church. The preface divides the ecclesiastical + year into four periods corresponding to the various epochs of the + world's history, a time of deviation, of renovation, of reconciliation + and of pilgrimage. The book itself, however, falls into five + sections:--(a) from Advent to Christmas (_cc._ 1-5); (b) from + Christmas to Septuagesima (6-30); (c) from Septuagesima to Easter + (31-53); (d) from Easter Day to the octave of Pentecost (54-76); (e) + from the octave of Pentecost to Advent (77-180). The saints' lives are + full of puerile legend, and in not a few cases contain accounts of + 13th-century miracles wrought at special places, particularly with + reference to the Dominicans. The last chapter but one (181), "De + Sancto Pelagio Papa," contains a kind of history of the world from the + middle of the 6th century; while the last (182) is a somewhat + allegorical disquisition, "De Dedicatione Ecclesiae." + + The _Golden Legend_ was translated into French by Jean Belet de Vigny + in the 14th century. It was also one of the earliest books to issue + from the press. A Latin edition is assigned to about 1469; and a dated + one was published at Lyons in 1473. Many other Latin editions were + printed before the end of the century. A French translation by Master + John Bataillier is dated 1476; Jean de Vigny's appeared at Paris, + 1488; an Italian one by Nic. Manerbi (? Venice, 1475); a Bohemian one + at Pilsen, 1475-1479, and at Prague, 1495; Caxton's English versions, + 1483, 1487 and 1493; and a German one in 1489. Several 15th-century + editions of the _Sermons_ are also known, and the Mariale was printed + at Venice in 1497 and at Paris in 1503. + + For bibliography see Potthast, _Bibliotheca hist. med. aev._ (Berlin, + 1896), p. 634; U. Chevalier, _Répertoire des sources hist. Bio.-bibl._ + (Paris, 1905), s.v. "Jacques de Voragine." + + + + +JACOTOT, JOSEPH (1770-1840), French educationist, author of the method +of "emancipation intellectuelle," was born at Dijon on the 4th of March +1770. He was educated at the university of Dijon, where in his +nineteenth year he was chosen professor of Latin, after which he studied +law, became advocate, and at the same time devoted a large amount of his +attention to mathematics. In 1788 he organized a federation of the youth +of Dijon for the defence of the principles of the Revolution; and in +1792, with the rank of captain, he set out to take part in the campaign +of Belgium, where he conducted himself with bravery and distinction. +After for some time filling the office of secretary of the "commission +d'organisation du mouvement des armées," he in 1794 became deputy of the +director of the Polytechnic school, and on the institution of the +central schools at Dijon he was appointed to the chair of the "method of +sciences," where he made his first experiments in that mode of tuition +which he afterwards developed more fully. On the central schools being +replaced by other educational institutions, Jacotot occupied +successively the chairs of mathematics and of Roman law until the +overthrow of the empire. In 1815 he was elected a representative to the +chamber of deputies; but after the second restoration he found it +necessary to quit his native land, and, having taken up his residence at +Brussels, he was in 1818 nominated by the Government teacher of the +French language at the university of Louvain, where he perfected into a +system the educational principles which he had already practised with +success in France. His method was not only adopted in several +institutions in Belgium, but also met with some approval in France, +England, Germany and Russia. It was based on three principles: (1) all +men have equal intelligence; (2) every man has received from God the +faculty of being able to instruct himself; (3) everything is in +everything. As regards (1) he maintained that it is only in the will to +use their intelligence that men differ; and his own process, depending +on (3), was to give any one learning a language for the first time a +short passage of a few lines, and to encourage the pupil to study, first +the words, then the letters, then the grammar, then the meaning, until a +single paragraph became the occasion for learning an entire literature. +After the revolution of 1830 Jacotot returned to France, and he died at +Paris on the 30th of July 1840. + + His system was described by him in _Enseignement universel, langue + maternelle_, Louvain and Dijon, 1823--which passed through several + editions--and in various other works; and he also advocated his views + in the _Journal de l'émancipation intellectuelle_. For a complete list + of his works and fuller details regarding his career, see _Biographie + de J. Jacotot_, by Achille Guillard (Paris, 1860). + + + + +JACQUARD, JOSEPH MARIE (1752-1834), French inventor, was born at Lyons +on the 7th of July 1752. On the death of his father, who was a working +weaver, he inherited two looms, with which he started business on his +own account. He did not, however, prosper, and was at last forced to +become a lime-burner at Bresse, while his wife supported herself at +Lyons by plaiting straw. In 1793 he took part in the unsuccessful +defence of Lyons against the troops of the Convention; but afterwards +served in their ranks on the Rhône and Loire. After seeing some active +service, in which his young son was shot down at his side, he again +returned to Lyons. There he obtained a situation in a factory, and +employed his spare time in constructing his improved loom, of which he +had conceived the idea several years previously. In 1801 he exhibited +his invention at the industrial exhibition at Paris; and in 1803 he was +summoned to Paris and attached to the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers. +A loom by Jacques de Vaucanson (1700-1782), deposited there, suggested +various improvements in his own, which he gradually perfected to its +final state. Although his invention was fiercely opposed by the +silk-weavers, who feared that its introduction, owing to the saving of +labour, would deprive them of their livelihood, its advantages secured +its general adoption, and by 1812 there were 11,000 Jacquard looms in +use in France. The loom was declared public property in 1806, and +Jacquard was rewarded with a pension and a royalty on each machine. He +died at Oullins (Rhône) on the 7th of August 1834, and six years later a +statue was erected to him at Lyons (see WEAVING). + + + + +JACQUERIE, THE, an insurrection of the French peasantry which broke out +in the Île de France and about Beauvais at the end of May 1358. The +hardships endured by the peasants in the Hundred Years' War and their +hatred for the nobles who oppressed them were the principal causes which +led to the rising, though the immediate occasion was an affray which +took place on the 28th of May at the village of Saint-Leu between +"brigands" (militia infantry armoured in brigandines) and countryfolk. +The latter having got the upper hand united with the inhabitants of the +neighbouring villages and placed Guillaume Karle at their head. They +destroyed numerous châteaux in the valleys of the Oise, the Brèche and +the Thérain, where they subjected the whole countryside to fire and +sword, committing the most terrible atrocities. Charles the Bad, king of +Navarre, crushed the rebellion at the battle of Mello on the 10th of +June, and the nobles then took violent reprisals upon the peasants, +massacring them in great numbers. + + See Simeon Luce, _Histoire de la Jacquerie_ (Paris, 1859 and 1895). + (J. V.*) + + + + +JACTITATION (from Lat. _jactitare_, to throw out publicly), in English +law, the maliciously boasting or giving out by one party that he or she +is married to the other. In such a case, in order to prevent the common +reputation of their marriage that might ensue, the procedure is by suit +of jactitation of marriage, in which the petitioner alleges that the +respondent boasts that he or she is married to the petitioner, and prays +a declaration of nullity and a decree putting the respondent to +perpetual silence thereafter. Previously to 1857 such a proceeding took +place only in the ecclesiastical courts, but by express terms of the +Matrimonial Causes Act of that year it can now be brought in the +probate, divorce and admiralty division of the High Court. To the suit +there are three defences: (1) denial of the boasting; (2) the truth of +the representations; (3) allegation (by way of estoppel) that the +petitioner acquiesced in the boasting of the respondent. In _Thompson_ +v. _Rourke_, 1893, Prob. 70, the court of appeal laid down that the +court will not make a decree in a jactitation suit in favour of a +petitioner who has at any time acquiesced in the assertion of the +respondent that they were actually married. Jactitation of marriage is a +suit that is very rare. + + + + +JADE, or JAHDE, a deep bay and estuary of the North Sea, belonging to +the grand-duchy of Oldenburg, Germany. The bay, which was for the most +part made by storm-floods in the 13th and 16th centuries, measures 70 +sq. m., and has communication with the open sea by a fairway, a mile and +a half wide, which never freezes, and with the tide gives access to the +largest vessels. On the west side of the entrance to the bay is the +Prussian naval port of Wilhelmshaven. A tiny stream, about 14 m. long, +also known as the Jade, enters the head of the bay. + + + + +JADE, a name commonly applied to certain ornamental stones, mostly of a +green colour, belonging to at least two distinct species, one termed +nephrite and the other jadeite. Whilst the term jade is popularly used +in this sense, it is now usually restricted by mineralogists to +nephrite. The word jade[1] is derived (through Fr. _le jade_ for +_l'ejade_) from Span. _ijada_ (Lat. _ilia_), the loins, this mineral +having been known to the Spanish conquerors of Mexico and Peru under the +name of _piedra de ijada_ or _yjada_ (colic stone). The reputed value of +the stone in renal diseases is also suggested by the term nephrite (so +named by A. G. Werner from Gr. [Greek: nephros], kidney), and by its old +name _lapis nephriticus_. + +Jade, in its wide and popular sense, has always been highly prized by +the Chinese, who not only believe in its medicinal value but regard it +as the symbol of virtue. It is known, with other ornamental stones, +under the name of _yu_ or _yu-chi_ (yu-stone). According to Professor H. +A. Giles, it occupies in China the highest place as a jewel, and is +revered as "the quintessence of heaven and earth." Notwithstanding its +toughness or tenacity, due to a dense fibrous structure, it is wrought +into complicated forms and elaborately carved. On many prehistoric +sites in Europe, as in the Swiss lake-dwellings, celts and other carved +objects both in nephrite and in jadeite have not infrequently been +found; and as no kind of jade had until recent years been discovered _in +situ_ in any European locality it was held, especially by Professor L. +H. Fischer, of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden, that either the raw material +or the worked objects must have been brought by some of the early +inhabitants from a jade locality probably in the East, or were obtained +by barter, thus suggesting a very early trade-route to the Orient. +Exceptional interest, therefore, attached to the discovery of jade in +Europe, nephrite having been found in Silesia, and jadeite or a similar +rock in the Alps, whilst pebbles of jade have been obtained from many +localities in Austria and north Germany, in the latter case probably +derived from Sweden. It is, therefore, no longer necessary to assign the +old jade implements to an exotic origin. Dr A. B. Meyer, of Dresden, +always maintained that the European jade objects were indigenous, and +his views have become generally accepted. Now that the mineral +characters of jade are better understood, and its identification less +uncertain, it may possibly be found with altered peridotites, or with +amphibolites, among the old crystalline schists of many localities. + + Nephrite, or true jade, may be regarded as a finely fibrous or compact + variety of amphibole, referred either to actinolite or to tremolite, + according as its colour inclines to green or white. Chemically it is a + calcium-magnesium silicate, CaMg3(SiO3)4. The fibres are either more + or less parallel or irregularly felted together, rendering the stone + excessively tough; yet its hardness is not great, being only about 6 + or 6.5. The mineral sometimes tends to become schistose, breaking with + a splintery fracture, or its structure may be horny. The specific + gravity varies from 2.9 to 3.18, and is of determinative value, since + jadeite is much denser. The colour of jade presents various shades of + green, yellow and grey, and the mineral when polished has a rather + greasy lustre. Professor F. W. Clarke found the colours due to + compounds of iron, manganese and chromium. One of the most famous + localities for nephrite is on the west side of the South Island of New + Zealand, where it occurs as nodules and veins in serpentine and + talcose rocks, but is generally found as boulders. It was known to the + Maoris as _pounamu_, or "green stone," and was highly prized, being + worked with great labour into various objects, especially the + club-like implement known as the _mere_, or _pattoo-pattoo_, and the + breast ornament called _hei-tiki_. The New Zealand jade, called by old + writers "green talc of the Maoris," is now worked in Europe as an + ornamental stone. The green jade-like stone known in New Zealand as + _tangiwai_ is bowenite, a translucent serpentine with enclosures of + magnesite. The mode of occurrence of the nephrite and bowenite of New + Zealand has been described by A. M. Finlayson (_Quart. Jour. Geol. + Soc._, 1909, p. 351). It appears that the Maoris distinguished six + varieties of jade. Difference of colour seems due to variations in the + proportion of ferrous silicate in the mineral. According to Finlayson, + the New Zealand nephrite results from the chemical alteration of + serpentine, olivine or pyroxene, whereby a fibrous amphibole is + formed, which becomes converted by intense pressure and movement into + the dense nephrite. + + Nephrite occurs also in New Caledonia, and perhaps in some of the + other Pacific islands, but many of the New Caledonian implements + reputed to be of jade are really made of serpentine. From its use as a + material for axe-heads, jade is often known in Germany as _Beilstein_ + ("axe-stone"). A fibrous variety, of specific gravity 3.18, found in + New Caledonia, and perhaps in the Marquesas, was distinguished by A. + Damour under the name of "oceanic jade." + + Much of the nephrite used by the Chinese has been obtained from + quarries in the Kuen-lun mountains, on the sides of the Kara-kash + valley, in Turkestan. The mineral, generally of pale colour, occurs in + nests and veins running through hornblende-schists and gneissose + rocks, and it is notable that when first quarried it is comparatively + soft. It appears to have a wide distribution in the mountains, and has + been worked from very ancient times in Khotan. Nephrite is said to + occur also in the Pamir region, and pebbles are found in the beds of + many streams. In Turkestan, jade is known as _yashm_ or _yeshm_, a + word which appears in Arabic as _yeshb_, perhaps cognate with [Greek: + iaspis] or jasper. The "jasper" of the ancients may have included + jade. Nephrite is said to have been discovered in 1891 in the Nan-shan + mountains in the Chinese province of Kan-suh, where it is worked. The + great centre of Chinese jade-working is at Peking, and formerly the + industry was active at Su-chow Fu. Siberia has yielded very fine + specimens of dark green nephrite, notably from the neighbourhood of + the Alibert graphite mine, near Batugol, Lake Baikal. The jade seems + to occur as a rock in part of the Sajan mountain system. New deposits + in Siberia were opened up to supply material for the tomb of the tsar + Alexander III. A gigantic monolith exists at the tomb of Tamerlane at + Samarkand. The occurrence of the Siberian jade has been described by + Professor L. von Jaczewski. + + Jade implements are widely distributed in Alaska and British Columbia, + being found in Indian graves, in old shell-heaps and on the sites of + deserted villages. Dr G. M. Dawson, arguing from the discovery of some + boulders of jade in the Fraser river valley, held that they were not + obtained by barter from Siberia, but were of native origin; and the + locality was afterwards discovered by Lieut. G. M. Stoney. It is known + as the Jade Mountains, and is situated north of Kowak river, about 150 + miles from its mouth. The study of a large collection of jade + implements by Professor F. W. Clarke and Dr G. P. Merrill proved that + the Alaskan jade is true nephrite, not to be distinguished from that + of New Zealand. + + Jadeite is a mineral species established by A. Damour in 1863, + differing markedly from nephrite in that its relation lies with the + pyroxenes rather than with the amphiboles. It is an aluminium sodium + silicate, NaAl(SiO3)2, related to spodumene. S. L. Penfield showed, by + measurement, that jadeite is monoclinic. Its colour is commonly very + pale, and white jadeite, which is the purest variety, is known as + "camphor jade." In many cases the mineral shows bright patches of + apple-green or emerald-green, due to the presence of chromium. Jadeite + is much more fusible than nephrite, and is rather harder (6.5 to 7), + but its most readily determined character is found in its higher + specific gravity, which ranges from 3.20 to 3.41. Some jadeite seems + to be a metamorphosed igneous rock. + + The Burmese jade, discovered by a Yunnan trader in the 13th century, + is mostly jadeite. The quarries, described by Dr F. Noetling, are + situated on the Uru river, about 120 m. from Mogaung, where the + jadeite occurs in serpentine, and is partly extracted by fire-setting. + It is also found as boulders in alluvium, and when these occur in a + bed of laterite they acquire a red colour, which imparts to them + peculiar value. According to Dr W. G. Bleeck, who visited the jade + country of Upper Burma after Noetling, jadeite occurs at three + localities in the Kachin Hills--Tawmaw, Hweka and Mamon. The jadeite + is known as _chauk-sen_, and is sent either to China or to Mandalay, + by way of Bhamo, whence Bhamo has come erroneously to be regarded as a + locality for jade. Jadeite occurs in association with the nephrite of + Turkestan, and possibly in some other Asiatic localities. In certain + cases nephrite is formed by the alteration of jadeite, as shown by + Professor J. P. Iddings. The Chinese _feits'ui_, sometimes called + "imperial jade," is a beautiful green stone, which seems generally to + be jadeite, but it is said that in some cases it may be chrysoprase. + It is named from its resemblance in colour to the plumage of the + kingfisher. The resonant character of jade has led to its occasional + use as a musical stone. + + In Mexico, in Central America and in the northern part of South + America, objects of jadeite are common. The Kunz votive adze from + Oaxaca, in Mexico, is now in the American Museum of Natural History, + New York. At the time of the Spanish conquest of Mexico amulets of + green stone were highly venerated, and it is believed that jadeite was + one of the stones prized under the name of _chalchihuitl_. Probably + turquoise was another stone included under this name, and indeed any + green stone capable of being polished, such as the Amazon stone, now + recognized as a green feldspar, may have been numbered among the Aztec + amulets. Dr Kunz suggests that the chalchihuitl was jadeite in + southern Mexico and Central America, and turquoise in northern Mexico + and New Mexico. He thinks that Mexican jadeite may yet be discovered + in places (_Gems and Precious Stones of Mexico_, by G. F. Kunz: + Mexico, 1907). + + Chloromelanite is Damour's name for a dense, dark mineral which has + been regarded as a kind of jade, and was used for the manufacture of + celts found in the dolmens of France and in certain Swiss + lake-dwellings. It is a mineral of spinach-green or dark-green colour, + having a specific gravity of 3.4, or even as high as 3.65, and may be + regarded as a variety of jadeite rich in iron. Chloromelanite occurs + in the Cyclops Mountains in New Guinea, and is used for hatchets or + agricultural implements, whilst the sago-clubs of the island are + usually of serpentine. Sillimanite, or fibrolite, is a mineral which, + like chloromelanite, was used by the Neolithic occupants of western + Europe, and is sometimes mistaken for a pale kind of jade. It is an + aluminium silicate, of specific gravity about 3.2, distinguished by + its infusibility. The _jade tenace_ of J. R. Haüy, discovered by H. B. + de Saussure in the Swiss Alps, is now known as saussurite. Among other + substances sometimes taken for jade may be mentioned prehnite, a + hydrous calcium-aluminium silicate, which when polished much resembles + certain kinds of jade. Pectolite has been used, like jade, in Alaska. + A variety of vesuvianite (idocrase) from California, described by Dr. + G. F. Kunz as californite, was at first mistaken for jade. The name + jadeolite has been given by Kunz to a green chromiferous syenite from + the jadeite mines of Burma. The mineral called bowenite, at one time + supposed to be jade, is a hard and tough variety of serpentine. Some + of the common Chinese ornaments imitating jade are carved in steatite + or serpentine, while others are merely glass. The _pâte de riz_ is a + fine white glass. The so-called "pink jade" is mostly quartz, + artificially coloured, and "black jade," though sometimes mentioned, + has no existence. + + An exhaustive description of jade will be found in a sumptuous work, + entitled _Investigations and Studies in Jade_ (New York, 1906). This + work, edited by Dr G. F. Kunz, was prepared in illustration of the + famous jade collection made by Heber Reginald Bishop, and presented + by him to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The work, which is + in two folio volumes, superbly illustrated, was printed privately, and + after 100 copies had been struck off on American hand-made paper, the + type was distributed and the material used for the illustrations was + destroyed. The second volume is a catalogue of the collection, which + comprises 900 specimens arranged in three classes: mineralogical, + archaeological and artistic. The important section on Chinese jade was + contributed by Dr S. W. Bushell, who also translated for the work a + discourse on jade--_Yü-shuo_ by T'ang Jung-tso, of Peking. Reference + should also be made to Heinrich Fischer's _Nephrit und Jadeit_ (2nd + ed., Stuttgart, 1880), a work which at the date of its publication was + almost exhaustive. (F. W. R.*) + + +FOOTNOTE: + + [1] The English use of the word for a worthless, ill-tempered horse, + a "screw," also applied as a term of reproach to a woman, has been + referred doubtfully to the same Spanish source as the O. Sp. + _ijadear_, meaning to pant, of a broken-winded horse. + + + + +JAEN, an inland province of southern Spain, formed in 1833 of districts +belonging to Andalusia; bounded on the N. by Ciudad Real and Albacete, +E. by Albacete and Granada, S. by Granada, and W. by Cordova. Pop. +(1900), 474,490; area, 5848 sq. m. Jaen comprises the upper basin of the +river Guadalquivir, which traverses the central districts from east to +west, and is enclosed on the north, south and east by mountain ranges, +while on the west it is entered by the great Andalusian plain. The +Sierra Morena, which divides Andalusia from New Castile, extends along +the northern half of the province, its most prominent ridges being the +Loma de Chiclana and the Loma de Ubeda; the Sierras de Segura, in the +east, derive their name from the river Segura, which rises just within +the border; and between the last-named watershed, its continuation the +Sierra del Pozo, and the parallel Sierra de Cazorla, is the source of +the Guadalquivir. The loftiest summits in the province are those of the +Sierra Magina (7103 ft.) farther west and south. Apart from the +Guadalquivir the only large rivers are its right-hand tributaries the +Jándula and Guadalimar, its left-hand tributary the Guadiana Menor, and +the Segura, which flows east and south to the Mediterranean. + + In a region which varies so markedly in the altitude of its surface, + the climate is naturally unequal; and, while the bleak, wind-swept + highlands are only available as sheep-walks, the well-watered and + fertile valleys favour the cultivation of the vine, the olive and all + kinds of cereals. The mineral wealth of Jaen has been known since + Roman times, and mining is an important industry, with its centre at + Lináres. Over 400 lead mines were worked in 1903; small quantities of + iron, copper and salt are also obtained. There is some trade in sawn + timber and cloth; esparto fabrics, alcohol and oil are manufactured. + The roads, partly owing to the development of mining, are more + numerous and better kept than in most Spanish provinces. Railway + communication is also very complete in the western districts, as the + main line Madrid-Cordova-Seville passes through them and is joined + south of Lináres by two important railways--from Algeciras and Malaga + on the south-west, and from Almería on the south-east. The eastern + half of Jaen is inaccessible by rail. In the western half are Jaen, + the capital (pop. (1900), 26,434), with Andujar (16,302), Baeza + (14,379), Bailen (7420), Lináres (38,245), Martos (17,078) and Ubeda + (19,913). Other towns of more than 7000 inhabitants are Alcalá la + Real, Alcaudete, Arjona, La Carolina and Porcuna, in the west; and + Cazorla, Quesada, Torredonjimeno, Villacarillo and Villanueva del + Arzobispo, in the east. + + + + +JAEN, the capital of the Spanish province of Jaen, on the Lináres-Puente +Genil railway, 1500 ft. above the sea. Pop. (1900), 26,434. Jaen is +finely situated on the well-wooded northern slopes of the Jabalcuz +Mountains, overlooking the picturesque valleys of the Jaen and +Guadalbullon rivers, which flow north into the Guadalquivir. The +hillside upon which the narrow and irregular city streets rise in +terraces is fortified with Moorish walls and a Moorish citadel. Jaen is +an episcopal see. Its cathedral was founded in 1532; and, although it +remained unfinished until late in the 18th century, its main +characteristics are those of the Renaissance period. The city contains +many churches and convents, a library, art galleries, theatres, barracks +and hospitals. Its manufactures include leather, soap, alcohol and +linen; and it was formerly celebrated for its silk. There are hot +mineral springs in the mountains, 2 m. south. + + The identification of Jaen with the Roman Aurinx, which has sometimes + been suggested, is extremely questionable. After the Moorish conquest + Jaen was an important commercial centre, under the name of Jayyan; and + ultimately became capital of a petty kingdom, which was brought to an + end only in 1246 by Ferdinand III. of Castille, who transferred hither + the bishopric of Baeza in 1248. Ferdinand IV. died at Jaen in 1312. In + 1712 the city suffered severely from an earthquake. + + + + +JAFARABAD, a state of India, in the Kathiawar agency of Bombay, forming +part of the territory of the nawab of Janjira; area, 42 sq. m.; pop. +(1901), 12,097; estimated revenue, £4000. The town of Jafarabad (pop. +6038), situated on the estuary of a river, carries on a large coasting +trade. + + + + +JAFFNA, a town of Ceylon, at the northern extremity of the island. The +fort was described by Sir J. Emerson Tennent as "the most perfect little +military work in Ceylon--a pentagon built of blocks of white coral." The +European part of the town bears the Dutch stamp more distinctly than any +other town in the island; and there still exists a Dutch Presbyterian +church. Several of the church buildings date from the time of the +Portuguese. In 1901 Jaffna had a population of 33,879, while in the +district or peninsula of the same name there were 300,851 persons, +nearly all Tamils, the only Europeans being the civil servants and a few +planters. Coco-nut planting has not been successful of recent years. The +natives grow palmyras freely, and have a trade in the fibre of this +palm. They also grow and export tobacco, but not enough rice for their +own requirements. A steamer calls weekly, and there is considerable +trade. The railway extension from Kurunegala due north to Jaffna and the +coast was commenced in 1900. Jaffna is the seat of a government agent +and district judge, and criminal sessions of the supreme court are +regularly held. Jaffna, or, as the natives call it, Yalpannan, was +occupied by the Tamils about 204 B.C., and there continued to be Tamil +rajahs of Jaffna till 1617, when the Portuguese took possession of the +place. As early as 1544 the missionaries under Francis Xavier had made +converts in this part of Ceylon, and after the conquest the Portuguese +maintained their proselytizing zeal. They had a Jesuit college, a +Franciscan and a Dominican monastery. The Dutch drove out the Portuguese +in 1658. The Church of England Missionary Society began its work in +Jaffna in 1818, and the American Missionary Society in 1822. + + + + +JÄGER, GUSTAV (1832- ), German naturalist and hygienist, was born at +Bürg in Württemberg on the 23rd of June 1832. After studying medicine at +Tübingen he became a teacher of zoology at Vienna. In 1868 he was +appointed professor of zoology at the academy of Hohenheim, and +subsequently he became teacher of zoology and anthropology at Stuttgart +polytechnic and professor of physiology at the veterinary school. In +1884 he abandoned teaching and started practice as a physician in +Stuttgart. He wrote various works on biological subjects, including _Die +Darwinsche Theorie und ihre Stellung zu Moral und Religion_ (1869), +_Lehrbuch der allgemeinen Zoologie_ (1871-1878), and _Die Entdeckung der +Seele_ (1878). In 1876 he suggested an hypothesis in explanation of +heredity, resembling the germ-plasm theory subsequently elaborated by +August Weismann, to the effect that the germinal protoplasm retains its +specific properties from generation to generation, dividing in each +reproduction into an ontogenetic portion, out of which the individual is +built up, and a phylogenetic portion, which is reserved to form the +reproductive material of the mature offspring. In _Die Normalkleidung +als Gesundheitsschutz_ (1880) he advocated the system of clothing +associated with his name, objecting especially to the use of any kind of +vegetable fibre for clothes. + + + + +JÄGERNDORF (Czech, _Krnov_), a town of Austria, in Silesia, 18 m. N.W. +of Troppau by rail. Pop. (1900), 14,675, mostly German. It is situated +on the Oppa and possesses a château belonging to Prince Liechtenstein, +who holds extensive estates in the district. Jägerndorf has large +manufactories of cloth, woollens, linen and machines, and carries on an +active trade. On the neighbouring hill of Burgberg (1420 ft.) are a +church, much visited as a place of pilgrimage, and the ruins of the seat +of the former princes of Jägerndorf. The claim of Prussia to the +principality of Jägerndorf was the occasion of the first Silesian war +(1740-1742), but in the partition, which followed, Austria retained the +larger portion of it. Jägerndorf suffered severely during the Thirty +Years' War, and was the scene of engagements between the Prussians and +Austrians in May 1745 and in January 1779. + + + + +JAGERSFONTEIN, a town in the Orange Free State, 50 m. N.W. by rail of +Springfontein on the trunk line from Cape Town to Pretoria. Pop. (1904), +5657--1293 whites and 4364 coloured persons. Jagersfontein, which +occupies a pleasant situation on the open veld about 4500 ft. above the +sea, owes its existence to the valuable diamond mine discovered here in +1870. The first diamond, a stone of 50 carats, was found in August of +that year, and digging immediately began. The discovery a few weeks +later of the much richer mines at Bultfontein and Du Toits Pan, followed +by the great finds at De Beers and Colesberg Kop (Kimberley) caused +Jagersfontein to be neglected for several years. Up to 1887 the claims +in the mine were held by a large number of individuals, but coincident +with the efforts to amalgamate the interest in the Kimberley mines a +similar movement took place at Jagersfontein, and by 1893 all the claims +became the property of one company, which has a working arrangement with +the De Beers corporation. The mine, which is worked on the open system +and has a depth of 450 ft., yields stones of very fine quality, but the +annual output does not exceed in value £500,000. In 1909 a shaft 950 ft. +deep was sunk with a view to working the mine on the underground system. +Among the famous stones found in the mine are the "Excelsior" (weighing +971 carats, and larger than any previously discovered) and the "Jubilee" +(see DIAMOND). The town was created a municipality in 1904. + +Fourteen miles east of Jagersfontein is Boomplaats, the site of the +battle fought in 1848 between the Boers under A. W. Pretorius and the +British under Sir Harry Smith (see ORANGE FREE STATE: _History_). + + + + +JAGO, RICHARD (1715-1781), English poet, third son of Richard Jago, +rector of Beaudesert, Warwickshire, was born in 1715. He went up to +University College, Oxford, in 1732, and took his degree in 1736. He was +ordained to the curacy of Snitterfield, Warwickshire, in 1737, and +became rector in 1754; and, although he subsequently received other +preferments, Snitterfield remained his favourite residence. He died +there on the 8th of May 1781. He was twice married. Jago's best-known +poem, _The Blackbirds_, was first printed in Hawkesworth's _Adventurer_ +(No. 37, March 13, 1753), and was generally attributed to Gilbert West, +but Jago published it in his own name, with other poems, in R. Dodsley's +_Collection of Poems_ (vol. iv., 1755). In 1767 appeared a topographical +poem, _Edge Hill, or the Rural Prospect delineated and moralized_; two +separate sermons were published in 1755; and in 1768 _Labour and Genius, +a Fable_. Shortly before his death Jago revised his poems, and they were +published in 1784 by his friend, John Scott Hylton, as _Poems Moral and +Descriptive_. + + See a notice prefixed to the edition of 1784; A. Chalmers, _English + Poets_ (vol. xvii., 1810); F. L. Colvile, _Warwickshire Worthies_ + (1870); some biographical notes are to be found in the letters of + Shenstone to Jago printed in vol. iii. of Shenstone's _Works_ (1769). + + + + +JAGUAR (_Felis onca_), the largest species of the _Felidae_ found on the +American continent, where it ranges from Texas through Central and South +America to Patagonia. In the countries which bound its northern limit it +is not frequently met with, but in South America it is quite common, and +Don Felix de Azara states that when the Spaniards first settled in the +district between Montevideo and Santa Fé, as many as two thousand were +killed yearly. The jaguar is usually found singly (sometimes in pairs), +and preys upon such quadrupeds as the horse, tapir, capybara, dogs or +cattle. It often feeds on fresh-water turtles; sometimes following the +reptiles into the water to effect a capture, it inserts a paw between +the shells and drags out the body of the turtle by means of its sharp +claws. Occasionally after having tasted human flesh, the jaguar becomes +a confirmed man-eater. The cry of this great cat, which is heard at +night, and most frequently during the pairing season, is deep and hoarse +in tone, and consists of the sound _pu, pu_, often repeated. The female +brings forth from two to four cubs towards the close of the year, which +are able to follow their mother in about fifteen days after birth. The +ground colour of the jaguar varies greatly, ranging from white to black, +the rosette markings in the extremes being but faintly visible. The +general or typical coloration is, however, a rich tan upon the head, +neck, body, outside of legs, and tail near the root. The upper part of +the head and sides of the face are thickly marked with small black +spots, and the rest of body is covered with rosettes, formed of rings of +black spots, with a black spot in the centre, and ranged lengthwise +along the body in five to seven rows on each side. These black rings are +heaviest along the back. The lips, throat, breast and belly, the inside +of the legs and the lower sides of tail are pure white, marked with +irregular spots of black, those on the breast being long bars and on the +belly and inside of legs large blotches. The tail has large black spots +near the root, some with light centres, and from about midway of its +length to the tip it is ringed with black. The ears are black behind, +with a large buff spot near the tip. The nose and upper lip are light +rufous brown. The size varies, the total length of a very large specimen +measuring 6 ft. 9 in.; the average length, however, is about 4 ft. from +the nose to root of tail. In form the jaguar is thick-set; it does not +stand high upon its legs; and in comparison with the leopard is heavily +built; but its movements are very rapid, and it is fully as agile as its +more graceful relative. The skull resembles that of the lion and tiger, +but is much broader in proportion to its length, and may be identified +by the presence of a tubercle on the inner edge of the orbit. The +species has been divided into a number of local forms, regarded by some +American naturalists as distinct species, but preferably ranked as +sub-species or races. + +[Illustration: The Jaguar (_Felis onca_).] + + + + +JAGUARONDI, or YAGUARONDI (_Felis jaguarondi_), a South American wild +cat, found in Brazil, Paraguay and Guiana, ranging to north-eastern +Mexico. This relatively small cat, uniformly coloured, is generally of +some shade of brownish-grey, but in some individuals the fur has a +rufous coat, while in others grey predominates. These cats are said by +Don Felix de Azara to keep to cover, without venturing into open places. +They attack tame poultry and also young fawns. The names jaguarondi and +eyra are applied indifferently to this species and _Felis eyra_. + + + + +JAHANABAD, a town of British India in Gaya district, Bengal, situated on +a branch of the East Indian railway. Pop. (1901), 7018. It was once a +flourishing trading town, and in 1760 it formed one of the eight +branches of the East India Company's central factory at Patna. Since the +introduction of Manchester goods, the trade of the town in cotton cloth +has almost entirely ceased; but large numbers of the Jolaha or +Mahommedan weaver caste live in the neighbourhood. + + + + +JAHANGIR, or JEHANGIR (1569-1627), Mogul emperor of Delhi, succeeded his +father Akbar the Great in 1605. His name was Salim, but he assumed the +title of Jahangir, "Conqueror of the World," on his accession. It was in +his reign that Sir Thomas Roe came as ambassador of James I., on behalf +of the English company. He was a dissolute ruler, much addicted to +drunkenness, and his reign is chiefly notable for the influence enjoyed +by his wife Nur Jahan, "the Light of the World." At first she influenced +Jahangir for good, but surrounding herself with her relatives she +aroused the jealousy of the imperial princes; and Jahangir died in 1627 +in the midst of a rebellion headed by his son, Khurram or Shah Jahan, +and his greatest general, Mahabat Khan. The tomb of Jahangir is situated +in the gardens of Shahdera on the outskirts of Lahore. + + + + +JAHIZ (ABU 'UTHMAN 'AMR IBN BAHR UL-JAHIZ; i.e. "the man the pupils of +whose eyes are prominent") (d. 869), Arabian writer. He spent his life +and devoted himself in Basra chiefly to the study of polite literature. +A Mu'tazilite in his religious beliefs, he developed a system of his own +and founded a sect named after him. He was favoured by Ibn uz-Zaiyat, +the vizier of the caliph Wathiq. + + His work, the _Kitab ul-Bayan wat-Tabyin_, a discursive treatise on + rhetoric, has been published in two volumes at Cairo (1895). The + _Kitab ul-Mahasin wal-Addad_ was edited by G. van Vloten as _Le Livre + des beautés et des antithèses_ (Leiden, 1898); the _Kitab ul-Bu-hala_. + _Le Livre des avares_, ed. by the same (Leiden, 1900); two other + smaller works, the _Excellences of the Turks_ and the _Superiority in + Glory of the Blacks over the Whites_, also prepared by the same. The + _Kitab ul-Hayawan,_ or "Book of Animals," a philological and literary, + not a scientific, work, was published at Cairo (1906). (G. W. T.) + + + + +JAHN, FRIEDRICH LUDWIG (1778-1852), German pedagogue and patriot, +commonly called _Turnvater_ ("Father of Gymnastics"), was born in Lanz +on the 11th of August 1778. He studied theology and philology from 1796 +to 1802 at Halle, Göttingen and Greifswald. After Jena he joined the +Prussian army. In 1809 he went to Berlin, where he became a teacher at +the Gymnasium zum Grauen as well as at the Plamann School. Brooding upon +the humiliation of his native land by Napoleon, he conceived the idea of +restoring the spirits of his countrymen by the development of their +physical and moral powers through the practice of gymnastics. The first +_Turnplatz_, or open-air gymnasium, was opened by him at Berlin in 1811, +and the movement spread rapidly, the young gymnasts being taught to +regard themselves as members of a kind of gild for the emancipation of +their fatherland. This patriotic spirit was nourished in no small degree +by the writings of Jahn. Early in 1813 he took an active part at Breslau +in the formation of the famous corps of Lützow, a battalion of which he +commanded, though during the same period he was often employed in secret +service. After the war he returned to Berlin, where he was appointed +state teacher of gymnastics. As such he was a leader in the formation of +the student _Burschenschaften_ (patriotic fraternities) in Jena. + +A man of democratic nature, rugged, honest, eccentric and outspoken, +Jahn often came into collision with the reactionary spirit of the time, +and this conflict resulted in 1819 in the closing of the _Turnplatz_ and +the arrest of Jahn himself. Kept in semi-confinement at the fortress of +Kolberg until 1824, he was then sentenced to imprisonment for two years; +but this sentence was reversed in 1825, though he was forbidden to live +within ten miles of Berlin. He therefore took up his residence at +Freyburg on the Unstrut, where he remained until his death, with the +exception of a short period in 1828, when he was exiled to Cölleda on a +charge of sedition. In 1840 he was decorated by the Prussian government +with the Iron Cross for bravery in the wars against Napoleon. In the +spring of 1848 he was elected by the district of Naumburg to the German +National Parliament. Jahn died on the 15th of October 1852 in Freyburg, +where a monument was erected in his honour in 1859. + + Among his works are the following: _Bereicherung des hochdeutschen + Sprachschatzes_ (Leipzig, 1806), _Deutsches Volksthum_ (Lübeck, 1810), + _Runenblätter_ (Frankfort, 1814), _Neue Runenblätter_ (Naumburg, + 1828), _Merke zum deutschen Volksthum_ (Hildburghausen, 1833), and + _Selbstvertheidigung_ (Vindication) (Leipzig, 1863). A complete + edition of his works appeared at Hof in 1884-1887. See the biography + by Schultheiss (Berlin, 1894), and _Jahn als Erzieher_, by Friedrich + (Munich, 1895). + + + + +JAHN, JOHANN (1750-1816), German Orientalist, was born at Tasswitz, +Moravia, on the 18th of June 1750. He studied philosophy at Olmütz, and +in 1772 began his theological studies at the Premonstratensian convent +of Bruck, near Znaim. Having been ordained in 1775, he for a short time +held a cure at Mislitz, but was soon recalled to Bruck as professor of +Oriental languages and Biblical hermeneutics. On the suppression of the +convent by Joseph II. in 1784, Jahn took up similar work at Olmütz, and +in 1789 he was transferred to Vienna as professor of Oriental languages, +biblical archaeology and dogmatics. In 1792 he published his _Einleitung +ins Alte Testament_ (2 vols.), which soon brought him into trouble; the +cardinal-archbishop of Vienna laid a complaint against him for having +departed from the traditional teaching of the Church, e.g. by asserting +Job, Jonah, Tobit and Judith to be didactic poems, and the cases of +demoniacal possession in the New Testament to be cases of dangerous +disease. An ecclesiastical commission reported that the views themselves +were not necessarily heretical, but that Jahn had erred in showing too +little consideration for the views of German Catholic theologians in +coming into conflict with his bishop, and in raising difficult problems +by which the unlearned might be led astray. He was accordingly advised +to modify his expressions in future. Although he appears honestly to +have accepted this judgment, the hostility of his opponents did not +cease until at last (1806) he was compelled to accept a canonry at St +Stephen's, Vienna, which involved the resignation of his chair. This +step had been preceded by the condemnation of his _Introductio in libros +sacros veteris foederis in compendium redacta_, published in 1804, and +also of his _Archaeologia biblica in compendium redacta_ (1805). The +only work of importance, outside the region of mere philology, +afterwards published by him, was the _Enchiridion Hermeneuticae_ (1812). +He died on the 16th of August 1816. + + Besides the works already mentioned, he published _Hebräische + Sprachlehre für Anfänger_ (1792); _Aramäische od. Chaldäische u. + Syrische Sprachlehre für Anfänger_(1793); _Arabische Sprachlehre_ + (1796); _Elementarbuch der hebr. Sprache_ (1799); _Chaldäische + Chrestomathie_ (1800); _Arabische Chrestomathie_ (1802); _Lexicon + arabico-latinum chrestomathiae accommodatum_ (1802); an edition of + the Hebrew Bible (1806); _Grammatica linguae hebraicae_ (1809); a + critical commentary on the Messianic passages of the Old Testament + (_Vaticinia prophetarum de Jesu Messia_, 1815). In 1821 a collection + of _Nachträge_ appeared, containing six dissertations on Biblical + subjects. The English translation of the _Archaeologia_ by T. C. Upham + (1840) has passed through several editions. + + + + +JAHN, OTTO (1813-1869), German archaeologist, philologist, and writer on +art and music, was born at Kiel on the 16th of June 1813. After the +completion of his university studies at Kiel, Leipzig and Berlin, he +travelled for three years in France and Italy; in 1839 he became +privatdocent at Kiel, and in 1842 professor-extraordinary of archaeology +and philology at Greifswald (ordinary professor 1845). In 1847 he +accepted the chair of archaeology at Leipzig, of which he was deprived +in 1851 for having taken part in the political movements of 1848-1849. +In 1855 he was appointed professor of the science of antiquity, and +director of the academical art museum at Bonn, and in 1867 he was called +to succeed E. Gerhard at Berlin. He died at Göttingen, on the 9th of +September 1869. + + The following are the most important of his works: 1. Archaeological: + _Palamedes_ (1836); _Telephos u. Troilos_ (1841); _Die Gemälde des + Polygnot_ (1841); _Pentheus u. die Mänaden_ (1841); _Paris u. Oinone_ + (1844); _Die hellenische Kunst_ (1846); _Peitho, die Göttin der + Überredung_ (1847); _Über einige Darstellungen des Paris-Urteils_ + (1849); _Die Ficoronische Cista_ (1852); _Pausaniae descriptio arcis + Athenarum_ (3rd ed., 1901); _Darstellungen griechischer Dichter auf + Vasenbildern_ (1861). 2. Philological: Critical editions of Juvenal, + Persius and Sulpicia (3rd ed. by F. Bücheler, 1893); Censorinus + (1845); Florus (1852); Cicero's _Brutus_ (4th ed., 1877); and _Orator_ + (3rd ed., 1869); the _Periochae_ of Livy (1853); the _Psyche et + Cupido_ of Apuleius (3rd ed., 1884; 5th ed., 1905); Longinus (1867; + 3rd ed. by J. Vahlen, 1905). 3. Biographical and aesthetic: _Üeber + Mendelssohn's Paulus_ (1842); _Biographie Mozarts_, a work of + extraordinary labour, and of great importance for the history of music + (3rd ed. by H. Disters, 1889-1891; Eng. trans. by P. D. Townsend, + 1891); _Ludwig Uhland_ (1863); _Gesammelte Aufsätze über Musik_ + (1866); _Biographische Aufsätze_ (1866). His _Griechische + Bilderchroniken_ was published after his death, by his nephew A. + Michaelis, who has written an exhaustive biography in _Allgemeine + Deutsche Biographie_, xiii.; see also J. Vahlen, _Otto Jahn_ (1870); + C. Bursian, _Geschichte der classischen Philologie in Deutschland_. + + + + +JAHRUM, a town and district of Persia in the province of Fars, S.E. of +Shiraz and S.W. of Darab. The district has thirty-three villages and is +famous for its celebrated _sháhán_ dates, which are exported in great +quantities; it also produces much tobacco and fruit. The water supply is +scanty, and most of the irrigation is by water drawn from wells. The +town of Jahrum, situated about 90 m. S.E. of Shiraz, is surrounded by a +mud-wall 3 m. in circuit which was constructed in 1834. It has a +population of about 15,000, one half living inside and the other half +outside the walls. It is the market for the produce of the surrounding +districts, has six caravanserais and a post office. + + + + +JAINS, the most numerous and influential sect of heretics, or +nonconformists to the Brahmanical system of Hinduism, in India. They are +found in every province of upper Hindustan, in the cities along the +Ganges and in Calcutta. But they are more numerous to the west--in +Mewar, Gujarat, and in the upper part of the Malabar coast--and are also +scattered throughout the whole of the southern peninsula. They are +mostly traders, and live in the towns; and the wealth of many of their +community gives them a social importance greater than would result from +their mere numbers. In the Indian census of 1901 they are returned as +being 1,334,140 in number. Their magnificent series of temples and +shrines on Mount Abu, one of the seven wonders of India, is perhaps the +most striking outward sign of their wealth and importance. + +The Jains are the last direct representatives on the continent of India +of those schools of thought which grew out of the active philosophical +speculation and earnest spirit of religious inquiry that prevailed in +the valley of the Ganges during the 5th and 6th centuries before the +Christian era. For many centuries Jainism was so overshadowed by that +stupendous movement, born at the same time and in the same place, which +we call Buddhism, that it remained almost unnoticed by the side of its +powerful rival. But when Buddhism, whose widely open doors had absorbed +the mass of the community, became thereby corrupted from its pristine +purity and gradually died away, the smaller school of the Jains, less +diametrically opposed to the victorious orthodox creed of the Brahmans, +survived, and in some degree took its place. + +Jainism purports to be the system of belief promulgated by Vaddhamana, +better known by his epithet of Maha-vira (the great hero), who was a +contemporary of Gotama, the Buddha. But the Jains, like the Buddhists, +believe that the same system had previously been proclaimed through +countless ages by each one of a succession of earlier teachers. The +Jains count twenty-four such prophets, whom they call Jinas, or +Tirthankaras, that is, conquerors or leaders of schools of thought. It +is from this word Jina that the modern name Jainas, meaning followers of +the Jina, or of the Jinas, is derived. This legend of the twenty-four +Jinas contains a germ of truth. Maha-vira was not an originator; he +merely carried on, with but slight changes, a system which existed +before his time, and which probably owes its most distinguishing +features to a teacher named Parswa, who ranks in the succession of Jinas +as the predecessor of Maha-vira. Parswa is said, in the Jain chronology, +to have been born two hundred years before Maha-vira (that is, about 760 +B.C.); but the only conclusion that it is safe to draw from this +statement is that Parswa was considerably earlier in point of time than +Maha-vira. Very little reliance can be placed upon the details reported +in the Jain books concerning the previous Jinas in the list of the +twenty-four Tirthankaras. The curious will find in them many +reminiscences of Hindu and Buddhist legend; and the antiquary must +notice the distinctive symbols assigned to each, in order to recognize +the statues of the different Jinas, otherwise identical, in the +different Jain temples. + +The Jains are divided into two great parties--the _Digambaras_, or +Sky-clad Ones, and the _Svetambaras_, or the White-robed Ones. The +latter have only as yet been traced, and that doubtfully, as far back as +the 5th century after Christ; the former are almost certainly the same +as the Niganthas, who are referred to in numerous passages of the +Buddhist Pali Pitakas, and must therefore be at least as old as the 6th +century B.C. In many of these passages the Niganthas are mentioned as +contemporaneous with the Buddha; and details enough are given concerning +their leader Nigantha Nata-putta (that is, the Nigantha of the Jñatrika +clan) to enable us to identify him, without any doubt, as the same +person as the Vaddhamana Maha-vira of the Jain books. This remarkable +confirmation, from the scriptures of a rival religion, of the Jain +tradition is conclusive as to the date of Maha-vira. The Niganthas are +referred to in one of Asoka's edicts (_Corpus Inscriptionum_, Plate +xx.). Unfortunately the account of the teachings of Nigantha Nata-putta +given in the Buddhist scriptures are, like those of the Buddha's +teachings given in the Brahmanical literature, very meagre. + + _Jain Literature._--The Jain scriptures themselves, though based on + earlier traditions, are not older in their present form than the 5th + century of our era. The most distinctively sacred books are called the + forty-five Agamas, consisting of eleven Angas, twelve Upangas, ten + Pakinnakas, six Chedas, four Mula-sutras and two other books. Devaddhi + Ganin, who occupies among the Jains a position very similar to that + occupied among the Buddhists by Buddhaghosa, collected the then + existing traditions and teachings of the sect into these forty-five + Agamas. Like the Buddhist scriptures, the earlier Jain books are + written in a dialect of their own, the so-called Jaina Prakrit; and it + was not till between A.D. 1000 and 1100 that the Jains adopted + Sanskrit as their literary language. Considerable progress has been + made in the publication and elucidation of these original authorities. + But a great deal remains yet to be done. The oldest books now in the + possession of the modern Jains purport to go back, not to the + foundation of the existing order in the 6th century B.C., but only to + the time of Bhadrabahu, three centuries later. The whole of the still + older literature, on which the revision then made was based, the + so-called _Purvas_, have been lost. And the existing canonical books, + while preserving a great deal that was probably derived from them, + contain much later material. The problem remains to sort out the older + from the later, to distinguish between the earlier form of the faith + and its subsequent developments, and to collect the numerous data for + the general, social, industrial, religious and political history of + India. Professor Weber gave a fairly full and carefully-drawn-up + analysis of the whole of the more ancient books in the second part of + the second volume of his _Catalogue of the Sanskrit MSS. at Berlin_, + published in 1888, and in vols. xvi. and xvii. of his _Indische + Studien_. An English translation of these last was published first in + the _Indian Antiquary_, and then separately at Bombay, 1893. Professor + Bhandarkar gave an account of the contents of many later works in his + _Report on the Search for Sanskrit MSS._, Bombay, 1883. Only a small + beginning has been made in editing and translating these works. The + best _précis_ of a long book can necessarily only deal with the more + important features in it. And in the choice of what should be included + the _précis_-writer will often omit the points some subsequent + investigator may most especially want. All the older works ought + therefore to be edited and translated in full and properly indexed. + The Jains themselves have now printed in Bombay a complete edition of + their sacred books. But the critical value of this edition, and of + other editions of separate texts printed elsewhere in India, leaves + much to be desired. Professor Jacobi has edited and translated the + _Kalpa Sutra_, containing a life of the founder of the Jain order; but + this can scarcely be older than the 5th century of our era. He has + also edited and translated the _Ayaranya Sutta_ of the Svetambara + Jains. The text, published by the Pali Text Society, is of 140 pages + octavo. The first part of it, about 50 pages, is a very old document + on the Jain views as to conduct, and the remainder consists of + appendices, added at different times, on the same subject. The older + part may go back as early as the 3rd century B.C., and it sets out + more especially the Jain doctrine of _tapas_ or self-mortification, in + contradistinction to the Buddhist view, which condemned asceticism. + The rules of conduct in this book are for members of the order. Dr + Rudolf Hoernle edited and translated an ancient work on the rules of + conduct for laymen, the _Uvasaga Dasao_.[1] Professor Leumann edited + another of the older works, the _Aupapatika Sutra_, and a fourth, + entitled the _Dasa-vaikalika Satra_, both of them published by the + German Oriental Society. Professor Jacobi translated two more, the + _Uttaradhyayana_ and the _Sutra Kritanga_.[2] Finally Dr Barnett has + translated two others in vol. xvii. of the _Oriental Translation Fund_ + (new series, London, 1907). Thus about one-fiftieth part of these + interesting and valuable old records is now accessible to the European + scholar. The sect of the Svetambaras has preserved the oldest + literatures. Dr Hoernle has treated of the early history of the sect + in the _Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal_ for 1898. + Several scholars--notably Bhagvanlal Indraji, Mr Lewis Rice and + Hofrath Bühler[3]--have treated of the remarkable archaeological + discoveries lately made. These confirm the older records in many + details, and show that the Jains, in the centuries before the + Christian era, were a wealthy and important body in widely separated + parts of India. + +_Jainism._--The most distinguishing outward peculiarity of Maha-vira and +of his earliest followers was their practice of going quite naked, +whence the term _Digambara_. Against this custom, Gotama, the Buddha, +especially warned his followers; and it is referred to in the well-known +Greek phrase, _Gymnosophist_, used already by Megasthenes, which applies +very aptly to the Niganthas. Even the earliest name Nigantha, which +means "free from bonds," may not be without allusions to this curious +belief in the sanctity of nakedness, though it also alluded to freedom +from the bonds of sin and of transmigration. The statues of the Jinas in +the Jain temples, some of which are of enormous size, are still always +quite naked; but the Jains themselves have abandoned the practice, the +Digambaras being sky-clad at meal-time only, and the Svetambaras being +always completely clothed. And even among the Digambaras it is only the +recluses or _Yatis_, men devoted to a religious life, who carry out this +practice. The Jain laity--the _Sravakas_, or disciples--do not adopt it. + +The Jain views of life were, in the most important and essential +respects, the exact reverse of the Buddhist views. The two orders, +Buddhist and Jain, were not only, and from the first, independent, but +directly opposed the one to the other. In philosophy the Jains are the +most thorough-going supporters of the old animistic position. Nearly +everything, according to them, has a soul within its outward visible +shape--not only men and animals, but also all plants, and even particles +of earth, and of water (when it is cold), and fire and wind. The +Buddhist theory, as is well known, is put together without the +hypothesis of "soul" at all. The word the Jains use for soul is _jiva_, +which means life; and there is much analogy between many of the +expressions they use and the view that the ultimate cells and atoms are +all, in a more or less modified sense, alive. They regard good and evil +and space as ultimate substances which come into direct contact with the +minute souls in everything. And their best-known position in regard to +the points most discussed in philosophy is _Syad-vada_, the doctrine +that you may say "Yes" and at the same time "No" to everything. You can +affirm the eternity of the world, for instance, from one point of view, +and at the same time deny it from another; or, at different times and in +different connexions, you may one day affirm it and another day deny it. +This position both leads to vagueness of thought and explains why +Jainism has had so little influence over other schools of philosophy in +India. On the other hand, the Jains are as determined in their views of +asceticism (_tapas_) as they were compromising in their views of +philosophy. Any injury done to the "souls" being one of the worst of +iniquities, the good monk should not wash his clothes (indeed, the most +austere will reject clothes altogether), nor even wash his teeth, for +fear of injuring living things. "Subdue the body, chastise thyself, +weaken thyself, just as fire consumes dry wood." It was by suppressing, +through such self-torture, the influence on his soul of all sensations +that the Jain could obtain salvation. It is related of the founder +himself, the Maha-vira, that after twelve years' penance he thus +obtained Nirvana (Jacobi, _Jaina Sutras_, i. 201) before he entered upon +his career as a teacher. And through the rest of his life, till he died +at Pava, shortly before the Buddha, he followed the same habit of +continual self-mortification. The Buddha, on the other hand, obtained +Nirvana in his 35th year, under the Bo tree, after he had abandoned +penance; and through the rest of his life he spoke of penance as quite +useless from his point of view. + +There is no manual of Jainism as yet published, but there is a great +deal of information on various points in the introductions to the works +referred to above. Professor Jacobi, who is the best authority on the +history of this sect, thus sums up the distinction between the Maha-vira +and the Buddha: "Maha-vira was rather of the ordinary class of religious +men in India. He may be allowed a talent for religious matters, but he +possessed not the genius which Buddha undoubtedly had.... The Buddha's +philosophy forms a system based on a few fundamental ideas, whilst that +of Maha-vira scarcely forms a system, but is merely a sum of opinions +(_pannattis_) on various subjects, no fundamental ideas being there to +uphold the mass of metaphysical matter. Besides this ... it is the +ethical element that gives to the Buddhist writings their superiority +over those of the Jains. Maha-vira treated ethics as corollary and +subordinate to his metaphysics, with which he was chiefly concerned." + + ADDITIONAL AUTHORITIES.--Bhadrabahu's _Kalpa Sutra_, the recognized + and popular manual of the Svetambara Jains, edited with English + introduction by Professor Jacobi (Leipzig, 1879); Hemacandra's "Yoga + S'astram," edited by Windisch, in the _Zeitschrift der deutschen morg. + Ges._ for 1874; "Zwei Jaina Stotra," edited in the _Indische Studien_, + vol. xv.; _Ein Fragment der Bhagavati_, by Professor Weber; _Mémoires + de l'Académie de Berlin_ (1866); _Nirayavaliya Sutta_, edited by Dr + Warren, with Dutch introduction (Amsterdam, 1879); _Over de + godsdienstige en wijsgeerige Begrippen der Jainas_, by Dr Warren (his + doctor-dissertation, Zwolle, 1875); _Beiträge zur Grammatik des + Jaina-prakrit_, by Dr Edward Müller (Berlin, 1876); Colebrooke's + _Essays_, vol. ii. Mr J. Burgess has an exhaustive account of the Jain + Cave Temples (none older than the 7th century) in Fergusson and + Burgess's _Cave Temples in India_ (London, 1880). + + See also Hopkins' _Religions of India_ (London, 1896), pp. 280-96, and + J. G. Bühler _On the Indian Sect of the Jainas_, edited by J. Burgess + (London, 1904). (T. W. R. D.) + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [1] Published in the _Bibliotheca Indica_, Calcutta, 1888. + + [2] These two, and the other two mentioned above, form vols. i. and + ii. of his _Jaina Sutras_, published in the _Sacred Books of the + East_ (1884, 1895). + + [3] The _Hatthi Gumpha_ and three other inscriptions at Cuttack + (Leyden, 1885); _Sravana Belgola_ inscriptions (Bangalore, 1889); + _Vienna Oriental Journal_, vols. ii.-v.; _Epigraphia Indica_, vols. + i-vii. + + + + +JAIPUR, or JEYPORE, a city and native state of India in the Rajputana +agency. The city is a prosperous place of comparatively recent date. It +derives its name from the famous Maharaja Jai Singh II., who founded it +in 1728. It is built of pink stucco in imitation of sandstone, and is +remarkable for the width and regularity of its streets. It is the only +city in India that is laid out in rectangular blocks, and it is divided +by cross streets into six equal portions. The main streets are 111 ft. +wide and are paved, while the city is lighted by gas. The regularity of +plan, and the straight streets with the houses all built after the same +pattern, deprive Jaipur of the charm of the East, while the painted mud +walls of the houses give it the meretricious air of stage scenery. The +huge palace of the maharaja stands in the centre of the city. Another +noteworthy building is Jai Singh's observatory. The chief industries are +in metals and marble, which are fostered by a school of art, founded in +1868. There is also a wealthy and enterprising community of native +bankers. The city has three colleges and several hospitals. Pop. (1901), +160,167. The ancient capital of Jaipur was Amber. + +The STATE OF JAIPUR, which takes its name from the city, has a total +area of 15,579 sq. m. Pop. (1901), 2,658,666, showing a decrease of 6% +in the decade. The estimated revenue is £430,000, and the tribute +£27,000. The centre of the state is a sandy and barren plain 1,600 ft. +above sea-level, bounded on the E. by ranges of hills running north and +south. On the N. and W. it is bounded by a broken chain of hills, an +offshoot of the Aravalli mountains, beyond which lies the sandy desert +of Rajputana. The soil is generally sandy. The hills are more or less +covered with jungle trees, of no value except for fuel. Towards the S. +and E. the soil becomes more fertile. Salt is largely manufactured and +exported from the Sambhar lake, which is worked by the government of +India under an arrangement with the states of Jaipur and Jodhpur. It +yields salt of a very high quality. The state is traversed by the +Rajputana railway, with branches to Agra and Delhi. + +The maharaja of Jaipur belongs to the Kachwaha clan of Rajputs, claiming +descent from Rama, king of Ajodhya. The state is said to have been +founded about 1128 by Dhula Rai, from Gwalior, who with his Kachwahas is +said to have absorbed or driven out the petty chiefs. The Jaipur house +furnished to the Moguls some of their most distinguished generals. Among +them were Man Singh, who fought in Orissa and Assam; Jai Singh, +commonly known by his imperial title of Mirza Raja, whose name appears +in all the wars of Aurangzeb in the Deccan; and Jai Singh II., or Sawai +Jai Singh, the famous mathematician and astronomer, and the founder of +Jaipur city. Towards the end of the 18th century the Jats of Bharatpur +and the chief of Alwar each annexed a portion of the territory of +Jaipur. By the end of the century the state was in great confusion, +distracted by internal broils and impoverished by the exactions of the +Mahrattas. The disputes between the chiefs of Jaipur and Jodhpur had +brought both states to the verge of ruin, and Amir Khan with the +Pindaris was exhausting the country. By a treaty in 1818 the protection +of the British was extended to Jaipur and an annual tribute fixed. In +1835 there was a serious disturbance in the city, after which the +British government took measures to insist upon order and to reform the +administration as well as to support its effective action; and the state +has gradually become well-governed and prosperous. During the Mutiny of +1857 the maharaja assisted the British in every way that lay in his +power. Maharaja Madho Singh, G.C.S.I., G.C.V.O., was born in 1861, and +succeeded in 1882. He is distinguished for his enlightened +administration and his patronage of art. He was one of the princes who +visited England at the time of King Edward's coronation in 1902. It was +he who started and endowed with a donation of 15 lakhs, afterwards +increased to 20 lakhs, of rupees (£133,000) the "Indian People's Famine +Fund." The Jaipur imperial service transport corps saw service in the +Chitral and Tirah campaigns. + + + + +JAISALMER, or JEYSULMERE, a town and native state of India in the +Rajputana agency. The town stands on a ridge of yellowish sandstone, +crowned by a fort, which contains the palace and several ornate Jain +temples. Many of the houses and temples are finely sculptured. Pop. +(1901), 7137. The area of the state is 16,062 sq. m. In 1901 the +population was 73,370, showing a decrease of 37% in ten years, as a +consequence of famine. The estimated revenue is about £6000; there is no +tribute. Jaisalmer is almost entirely a sandy waste, forming a part of +the great Indian desert. The general aspect of the country is that of an +interminable sea of sandhills, of all shapes and sizes, some rising to a +height of 150 ft. Those in the west are covered with _phog_ bushes, +those in the east with tufts of long grass. Water is scarce, and +generally brackish; the average depth of the wells is said to be about +250 ft. There are no perennial streams, and only one small river, the +Kakni, which, after flowing a distance of 28 m., spreads over a large +surface of flat ground, and forms a lake or _jhil_ called the Bhuj-Jhil. +The climate is dry and healthy. Throughout Jaisalmer only rain-crops, +such as _bajra_, _joar_, _moth_, _til_, &c., are grown; spring crops of +wheat, barley, &c., are very rare. Owing to the scant rainfall, +irrigation is almost unknown. + + The main part of the population lead a wandering life, grazing their + flocks and herds. Large herds of camels, horned cattle, sheep and + goats are kept. The principal trade is in wool, _ghi_, camels, cattle + and sheep. The chief imports are grain, sugar, foreign cloth, + piece-goods, &c. Education is at a low ebb. Jain priests are the chief + schoolmasters, and their teaching is elementary. The ruler of + Jaisalmer is styled _maharawal_. The state suffered from famine in + 1897, 1900 and other years, to such an extent that it has had to incur + a heavy debt for extraordinary expenditure. There are no railways. + + The majority of the inhabitants are Bhatti Rajputs, who take their + name from an ancestor named Bhatti, renowned as a warrior when the + tribe were located in the Punjab. Shortly after this the clan was + driven southwards, and found a refuge in the Indian desert, which was + thenceforth its home. Deoraj, a famous prince of the Bhatti family, is + esteemed the real founder of the present Jaisalmer dynasty, and with + him the title of _rawal_ commenced. In 1156 Jaisal, the sixth in + succession from Deoraj, founded the fort and city of Jaisalmer, and + made it his capital. In 1294 the Bhattis so enraged the emperor + Ala-ud-din that his army captured and sacked the fort and city of + Jaisalmer, so that for some time it was quite deserted. After this + there is nothing to record till the time of Rawal Sabal Singh, whose + reign marks an epoch in Bhatti history in that he acknowledged the + supremacy of the Mogul emperor Shah Jahan. The Jaisalmer princes had + now arrived at the height of their power, but from this time till the + accession of Rawal Mulraj in 1762 the fortunes of the state rapidly + declined, and most of its outlying provinces were lost. In 1818 Mulraj + entered into political relations with the British. Maharawal + Salivahan, born in 1887, succeeded to the chief ship in 1891. + + + + +JAJCE (pronounced _Yaïtse_), a town of Bosnia, situated on the Pliva and +Vrbas rivers, and at the terminus of a branch railway from Serajevo, 62 +m. S.E. Pop. (1895), about 4000. Jajce occupies a conical hill, +overlooking one of the finest waterfalls in Europe, where the Pliva +rushes down into the Vrbas, 100 ft. below. The 14th century citadel +which crowns this hill is said to have been built for Hrvoje, duke of +Spalato, on the model of the Castel del' Uovo at Naples; but the +resemblance is very slight, and although both _jajce_ and _uovo_ signify +"an egg," the town probably derives its name from the shape of the hill. +The ruined church of St Luke, said by legend to be the Evangelist's +burial place, has a fine Italian belfry, and dates from the 15th +century. Jezero, 5 m. W. of Jajce, contains the Turkish fort of +Djöl-Hissar, or "the Lake-Fort." In this neighbourhood a line of +waterfalls and meres, formed by the Pliva, stretches for several miles, +enclosed by steep rocks and forest-clad mountains. The power supplied by +the main fall, at Jajce, is used for industrial purposes, but the beauty +of the town remains unimpaired. + +From 1463 to 1528 Jajce was the principal outwork of eastern Christendom +against the Turks. Venice contributed money for its defence, and Hungary +provided armies; while the pope entreated all Christian monarchs to +avert its fall. In 1463 Mahomet II. had seized more than 75 Bosnian +fortresses, including Jajce itself; and the last independent king of +Bosnia, Stephen Tomasevic, had been beheaded, or, according to one +tradition, flayed alive, before the walls of Jajce, on a spot still +called _Kraljeva Polje_, the "King's Field." His coffin and skeleton are +still displayed in St Luke's Church. The Hungarians, under King Matthias +I., came to the rescue, and reconquered the greater part of Bosnia +during the same year; and, although Mahomet returned in 1464, he was +again defeated at Jajce, and compelled to flee before another Hungarian +advance. In 1467 Hungarian bans, or military governors, were appointed +to rule in north-west Bosnia, and in 1472 Matthias appointed Nicolaus +Ujlaki king of the country, with Jajce for his capital. This kingdom +lasted, in fact, for 59 years; but, after the death of Ujlaki, in 1492, +its rulers only bore the title of _ban_, and of _vojvod_. In 1500 the +Turks, under Bajazet II., were crushed at Jajce by the Hungarians under +John Corvinus; and several other attacks were repelled between 1520 and +1526. But in 1526 the Hungarian power was destroyed at Mohács; and in +1528 Jajce was forced to surrender. + + See Bräss, "Jajce, die alte Königstadt Bosniens," in _Deutsche geog. + Blätter_, pp. 71-85 (Bremen, 1899). + + + + +JAJPUR, or JAJPORE, a town of British India, in Cuttack district, +Bengal, situated on the right bank of the Baitarani river. Pop. (1901), +12,111. It was the capital of Orissa under the Kesari dynasty until the +11th century, when it was superseded by Cuttack. In Jajpur are numerous +ruins of temples, sculptures, &c., and a large and beautiful sun pillar. + + + + +JAKOB, LUDWIG HEINRICH VON (1759-1827), German economist, was born at +Wettin on the 26th of February 1759. In 1777 he entered the university +of Halle. In 1780 he was appointed teacher at the gymnasium, and in 1791 +professor of philosophy at the university. The suppression of the +university of Halle having been decreed by Napoleon, Jakob betook +himself to Russia, where in 1807 he was appointed professor of political +economy at Kharkoff, and in 1809 a member of the government commission +to inquire into the finances of the empire. In the following year he +became president of the commission for the revision of criminal law, and +he at the same time obtained an important office in the finance +department, with the rank of counsellor of state; but in 1816 he +returned to Halle to occupy the chair of political economy. He died at +Lauchstädt on the 22nd of July 1827. + + Shortly after his first appointment to a professorship in Halle Jakob + had begun to turn his attention rather to the practical than the + speculative side of philosophy, and in 1805 he published at Halle + _Lehrbuch der Nationalökonomie_, in which he was the first to + advocate in Germany the necessity of a distinct science dealing + specially with the subject of national wealth. His principal other + works are _Grundriss der allgemeinen Logik_ (Halle, 1788); _Grundsätze + der Polizeigesetzgebung und Polizeianstalten_ (Leipzig, 1809); + _Einleitung in das Studium der Staatswissenschaften_ (Halle, 1819); + _Entwurf eines Criminalgesetzbuchs für das russische Reich_ (Halle, + 1818) and _Staatsfinanzwissenschaft_ (2 vols., Halle, 1821). + + + + +JAKOVA (also written DIAKOVA, GYAKOVO and GJAKOVICA), a town of Albania, +European Turkey, in the vilayet of Kossovo; on the river Erenik, a +right-hand tributary of the White Drin. Pop. (1905) about 12,000. Jakova +is the chief town of the Alpine region which extends from the +Montenegrin frontier to the Drin and White Drin. This region has never +been thoroughly explored, or brought under effective Turkish rule, on +account of the inaccessible character of its mountains and forests, and +the lawlessness of its inhabitants--a group of two Roman Catholic and +three Moslem tribes, known collectively as the Malsia Jakovs, whose +official representative resides in Jakova. + + + + +JAKUNS, an aboriginal race of the Malay Peninsula. They have become much +mixed with other tribes, and are found throughout the south of the +peninsula and along the coasts. The purest types are straight-haired, +exhibit marked Mongolian characteristics and are closely related to the +Malays. They are probably a branch of the Pre-Malays, the "savage +Malays" of A. R. Wallace. They are divided into two groups: (1) Jakuns +of the jungle, (2) Jakuns of the sea or Orang Laut. The latter set of +tribes now comprise the remnants of the pirates or "sea-gipsies" of the +Malaccan straits. The Jakuns, who must be studied in conjunction with +the other aboriginal peoples of the Malay Peninsula, the Semangs and the +Sakais, are not so dwarfish as those. The head is round; the skin varies +from olive-brown to dark copper; the face is flat and the lower jaw +square. The nose is thick and short, with wide, open nostrils. The +cheekbones are high and well marked. The hair has a blue-black tint, +eyes are black and the beard is scanty. The Jakuns live a wild forest +life, and in general habits much resemble the Sakai, being but little in +advance of the latter in social conditions except where they come into +close contact with the Malay peoples. + + + + +JALALABAD, or JELLALABAD, a town and province of Afghanistan. The town +lies at a height of 1950 ft. in a plain on the south side of the Kabul +river, 96 m. from Kabul and 76 from Peshawar. Estimated pop., 4000. +Between it and Peshawar intervenes the Khyber Pass, and between it and +Kabul the passes of Jagdalak, Khurd Kabul, &c. The site was chosen by +the emperor Baber, and he laid out some gardens here; but the town +itself was built by his grandson Akbar in A.D. 1560. It resembles the +city of Kabul on a smaller scale, and has one central bazaar, the +streets generally being very narrow. The most notable episode in the +history of the place is the famous defence by Sir Robert Sale during the +first Afghan war, when he held the town from November 1841 to April +1842. On its evacuation in 1842 General Pollock destroyed the defences, +but they were rebuilt in 1878. The town is now fortified, surrounded by +a high wall with bastions and loopholes. The province of Jalalabad is +about 80 m. in length by 35 in width, and includes the large district of +Laghman north of the Kabul river, as well as that on the south called +Ningrahar. The climate of Jalalabad is similar to that of Peshawar. As a +strategical centre Jalalabad is one of the most important positions in +Afghanistan, for it dominates the entrances to the Laghman and the Kunar +valleys; commanding routes to Chitral or India north of the Khyber, as +well as the Kabul-Peshawar road. + + + + +JALAP, a cathartic drug consisting of the tuberous roots of _Ipomaea +Purga_, a convolvulaceous plant growing on the eastern declivities of +the Mexican Andes at an elevation of 5000 to 8000 ft. above the level of +the sea, more especially about the neighbourhood of Chiconquiaco, and +near San Salvador on the eastern slope of the Cofre de Perote. Jalap has +been known in Europe since the beginning of the 17th century, and +derives its name from the city of Jalapa in Mexico, near which it grows, +but its botanical source was not accurately determined until 1829, when +Dr. J. R. Coxe of Philadelphia published a description and coloured +figure taken from living plants sent him two years previously from +Mexico. The jalap plant has slender herbaceous twining stems, with +alternately placed heart-shaped pointed leaves and salver-shaped deep +purplish-pink flowers. The underground stems are slender and creeping; +their vertical roots enlarge and form turnip-shaped tubers. The roots +are dug up in Mexico throughout the year, and are suspended to dry in a +net over the hearth of the Indians' huts, and hence acquire a smoky +odour. The large tubers are often gashed to cause them to dry more +quickly. In their form they vary from spindle-shaped to ovoid or +globular, and in size from a pigeon's egg to a man's fist. Externally +they are brown and marked with small transverse paler scars, and +internally they present a dirty white resinous or starchy fracture. The +ordinary drug is distinguished in commerce as Vera Cruz jalap, from the +name of the port whence it is shipped. + +[Illustration: Jalap (_Ipomaea Purga_); about half natural size.] + +Jalap has been cultivated for many years in India, chiefly at +Ootacamund, and grows there as easily as a yam, often producing clusters +of tubers weighing over 9 lb.; but these, as they differ in appearance +from the commercial article, have not as yet obtained a place in the +English market. They are found, however, to be rich in resin, containing +18%. In Jamaica also the plant has been grown, at first amongst the +cinchona trees, but more recently in new ground, as it was found to +exhaust the soil. + +Besides Mexican or Vera Cruz jalap, a drug called Tampico jalap has been +imported for some years in considerable quantity. It has a much more +shrivelled appearance and paler colour than ordinary jalap, and lacks +the small transverse scars present in the true drug. This kind of jalap, +the Purga de Sierra Gorda of the Mexicans, was traced by Hanbury to +_Ipomaea simulans_. It grows in Mexico along the mountain range of the +Sierra Gorda in the neighbourhood of San Luis de la Paz, from which +district it is carried down to Tampico, whence it is exported. A third +variety of jalap known as woody jalap, male jalap, or Orizaba root, or +by the Mexicans as Purgo macho, is derived from _Ipomaea orizabensis_, a +plant of Orizaba. The root occurs in fibrous pieces, which are usually +rectangular blocks of irregular shape, 2 in. or more in diameter, and +are evidently portions of a large root. It is only occasionally met with +in commerce. + + The dose of jalap is from five to twenty grains, the British + Pharmacopeia directing that it must contain from 9 to 11% of the resin, + which is given in doses of two to five grains. One preparation of this + drug is in common use, the _Pulvis Jalapae Compositus_, which consists + of 5 parts of jalap, 9 of cream of tartar, and 1 of ginger. The dose is + from 20 grains to a drachm. It is best given in the maximum dose which + causes the minimum of irritation. + + The chief constituents of jalap resin are two glucosides--_convolvulin_ + and _jalapin_--sugar, starch and gum. Convolvulin constitutes nearly + 20% of the resin. It is insoluble in ether, and is more active than + jalapin. It is not used separately in medicine. Jalapin is present in + about the same proportions. It dissolves readily in ether, and has a + soft resinous consistence. It may be given in half-grain doses. It is + the active principle of the allied drug _scammony_. According to Mayer, + the formula of convolvulin is C34H50O16, and that of jalapin C31H50O16. + + Jalap is a typical hydragogue purgative, causing the excretion of more + fluid than scammony, but producing less stimulation of the muscular + wall of the bowel. For both reasons it is preferable to scammony. It + was shown by Professor Rutherford at Edinburgh to be a powerful + secretory cholagogue, an action possessed by few hydragogue purgatives. + The stimulation of the liver is said to depend upon the solution of the + resin by the intestinal secretion. The drug is largely employed in + cases of Bright's disease and dropsy from any cause, being especially + useful when the liver shares in the general venous congestion. It is + not much used in ordinary constipation. + + + + +JALAPA, XALAPA, or HALAPA, a city of the state of Vera Cruz, Mexico, 70 +m. by rail N.W. of the port of Vera Cruz. Pop. (1900), 20,388. It is +picturesquely situated on the slopes of the sierra which separates the +central plateau from the _tierra caliente_ of the Gulf Coast, at an +elevation of 4300 ft., and with the Cofre de Perote behind it rising to +a height of 13,419 ft. Its climate is cool and healthy and the town is +frequented in the hot season by the wealthier residents of Vera Cruz. +The city is well built, in the old Spanish style. Among its public +buildings are a fine old church, a Franciscan convent founded by Cortez +in 1556, and three hospitals, one of which, that of San Juan de Dios, +dates from colonial times. The neighbouring valleys and slopes are +fertile, and in the forests of this region is found the plant (jalap), +which takes its name from the place. Jalapa was for a time the capital +of the state, but its political and commercial importance has declined +since the opening of the railway between Vera Cruz and the city of +Mexico. It manufactures pottery and leather. + + + + +JALAUN, a town and district of British India, in the Allahabad division +of the United Provinces. Pop. of town (1901), 8573. Formerly it was the +residence of a Mahratta governor, but never the headquarters of the +district, which are at Orai. + +The DISTRICT OF JALAUN has an area of 1477 sq. m. It lies entirely +within the level plain of Bundelkhand, north of the hill country, and is +almost surrounded by the Jumna and its tributaries the Betwa and Pahuj. +The central region thus enclosed is a dead level of cultivated land, +almost destitute of trees, and sparsely dotted with villages. The +southern portion presents almost one unbroken sheet of cultivation. The +boundary rivers form the only interesting feature in Jalaun. The river +Non flows through the centre of the district, which it drains by +innumerable small ravines instead of watering. Jalaun has suffered much +from the noxious _kans_ grass, owing to the spread of which many +villages have been abandoned and their lands thrown out of cultivation. +Pop. (1901), 399,726, showing an increase of 1%. The two largest towns +are Kunch (15,888), and Kalpi (10,139). The district is traversed by the +line of the Indian Midland railway from Jhansi to Cawnpore. A small part +of it is watered by the Betwa canal. Grain, oil-seeds, cotton and _ghi_ +are exported. + +In early times Jalaun seems to have been the home of two Rajput clans, +the Chandels in the east and the Kachwahas in the west. The town of +Kalpi on the Jumna was conquered for the princes of Ghor as early as +1196. Early in the 14th century the Bundelas occupied the greater part +of Jalaun, and even succeeded in holding the fortified post of Kalpi. +That important possession was soon recovered by the Mussulmans, and +passed under the sway of the Mogul emperors. Akbar's governors at Kalpi +maintained a nominal authority over the surrounding district; and the +Bundela chiefs were in a state of chronic revolt, which culminated in +the war of independence under Chhatar Sal. On the outbreak of his +rebellion in 1671 he occupied a large province to the south of the +Jumna. Setting out from this basis, and assisted by the Mahrattas, he +reduced the whole of Bundelkhand. On his death he bequeathed one-third +of his dominions to his Mahratta allies, who before long succeeded in +annexing the whole of Bundelkhand. Under Mahratta rule the country was a +prey to constant anarchy and intestine strife. To this period must be +traced the origin of the poverty and desolation which are still +conspicuous throughout the district. In 1806 Kalpi was made over to the +British, and in 1840, on the death of Nana Gobind Ras, his possessions +lapsed to them also. Various interchanges of territory took place, and +in 1856 the present boundaries were substantially settled. Jalaun had a +bad reputation during the Mutiny. When the news of the rising at +Cawnpore reached Kalpi, the men of the 53rd native infantry deserted +their officers, and in June the Jhansi mutineers reached the district, +and began their murder of Europeans. The inhabitants everywhere revelled +in the licence of plunder and murder which the Mutiny had spread through +all Bundelkhand, and it was not till September 1858 that the rebels were +finally defeated. + + + + +JALISCO, XALISCO, or GUADALAJARA, a Pacific coast state of Mexico, of +very irregular shape, bounded, beginning on the N., by the territory of +Tepic and the states of Durango, Zacatecas, Aguas Calientes, Guanajuato, +Michoacán, and Colima. Pop. (1900), 1,153,891. Area, 31,846 sq. m. +Jalisco is traversed from N.N.W. to S.S.E. by the Sierra Madre, locally +known as the Sierra de Nayarit and Sierra de Jalisco, which divides the +state into a low heavily forested coastal plain and a high plateau +region, part of the great Anáhuac table-land, with an average elevation +of about 5000 ft., broken by spurs and flanking ranges of moderate +height. The sierra region is largely volcanic and earthquakes are +frequent; in the S. are the active volcanoes of Colima (12,750 ft.) and +the Nevado de Colima (14,363 ft.). The _tierra caliente_ zone of the +coast is tropical, humid, and unfavourable to Europeans, while the +inland plateaus vary from subtropical to temperate and are generally +drier and healthful. The greater part of the state is drained by the Rio +Grande de Lerma (called the Santiago on its lower course) and its +tributaries, chief of which is the Rio Verde. Lakes are numerous; the +largest are the Chapala, about 80 m. long by 10 to 35 m. wide, which is +considered one of the most beautiful inland sheets of water in Mexico, +the Sayula and the Magdalena, noted for their abundance of fish. The +agricultural products of Jalisco include Indian corn, wheat and beans on +the uplands, and sugar-cane, cotton, rice, indigo and tobacco in the +warmer districts. Rubber and palm oil are natural forest products of the +coastal zone. Stock-raising is an important occupation in some of the +more elevated districts. The mineral resources include silver, gold, +cinnabar, copper, bismuth, and various precious stones. There are +reduction works of the old-fashioned type and some manufactures, +including cotton and woollen goods, pottery, refined sugar and leather. +The commercial activities of the state contribute much to its +prosperity. There is a large percentage of Indians and mestizos in the +population. The capital is Guadalajara, and other important towns with +their populations in 1900 (unless otherwise stated) are: Zapotlanejo +(20,275), 21 m. E. by N. of Guadalajara; Ciudad Guzmán (17,374 in 1895), +60 m. N.E. of Colima; Lagos (14,716 in 1895), a mining town 100 m. +E.N.E. of Guadalajara on the Mexican Central railway; Tamazula (8783 in +1895); Sayula (7883); Autlán (7715); Teocaltiche (8881); Ameca (7212 in +1895), in a fertile agricultural region on the western slopes of the +sierras; Cocula (7090 in 1895); and Zacoalco (6516). Jalisco was first +invaded by the Spaniards about 1526 and was soon afterwards conquered by +Nuño de Guzman. It once formed part of the reyno of Nueva Galicia, which +also included Aguas Calientes and Zacatecas. In 1889 its area was much +reduced by a subdivision of its coastal zone, which was set apart as the +territory of Tepic. + + + + +JALNA, or JAULNA, a town in Hyderabad state, India, on the Godavari +branch of the Nizam's railway, and 210 m. N.E. of Bombay. Pop. (1901), +20,270. Until 1903 it was a cantonment of the Hyderabad contingent, +originally established in 1827. Its gardens produce fruit, which is +largely exported. On the opposite bank of the river Kundlika is the +trading town of Kadirabad; pop. (1901), 11,159. + + + + +JALPAIGURI, or JULPIGOREE, a town and district of British India, in the +Rajshahi division of Eastern Bengal and Assam. The town is on the right +bank of the river Tista, with a station on the Eastern Bengal railway +about 300 m. due N. of Calcutta. Pop. (1901), 9708. It is the +headquarters of the commissioner of the division. + +The DISTRICT OF JALPAIGURI (organized in 1869) occupies an irregularly +shaped tract south of Darjeeling and Bhutan and north of the state of +Kuch Behar. It includes the Western Dwars, annexed from Bhutan after the +war of 1864-1865. Area, 2,962 sq. m. Pop. (1901), 787,380, an increase +of 16% in the decade. The district is divided into a "regulation" tract, +lying towards the south-west, and a strip of country, about 22 m. in +width, running along the foot of the Himalayas, and known as the Western +Dwars. The former is a continuous expanse of level paddy fields, only +broken by groves of bamboos, palms, and fruit-trees. The frontier +towards Bhutan is formed by the Sinchula mountain range, some peaks of +which attain an elevation of 6000 ft. It is thickly wooded from base to +summit. The principal rivers, proceeding from west to east, are the +Mahananda, Karatoya, Tista, Jaldhaka, Duduya, Mujnai, Tursa, Kaljani, +Raidak, and Sankos. The most important is the Tista, which forms a +valuable means of water communication. Lime is quarried in the lower +Bhutan hills. The Western Dwars are the principal centre of tea +cultivation in Eastern Bengal. The other portion of the district +produces jute. Jalpaiguri is traversed by the main line of the Eastern +Bengal railway to Darjeeling. It is also served by the Bengal Dwars +railway. + + + + +JAMAICA, the largest island in the British West Indies. It lies about 80 +m. S. of the eastern extremity of Cuba, between 17° 43´ and 18° 32´ N. +and 76° 10´ and 78° 20´ W., is 144 m. long, 50 m. in extreme breadth, +and has an area of 4207 sq. m. The coast-line has the form of a turtle, +the mountain ridges representing the back. A mountainous backbone runs +through the island from E. to W., throwing off a number of subsidiary +ridges, mostly in a north-westerly or south-easterly direction. In the +east this range is more distinctly marked, forming the Blue Mountains, +with cloud-capped peaks and numerous bifurcating branches. They trend W. +by N., and are crossed by five passes at altitudes varying from 3000 to +4000 ft. They culminate in Blue Mountain Peak (7360 ft.), after which +the heights gradually decrease until the range is merged into the hills +of the western plateau. Two-thirds of the island are occupied by this +limestone plateau, a region of great beauty broken by innumerable hills, +valleys and sink-holes, and covered with luxuriant vegetation. The +uplands usually terminate in steep slopes or bluffs, separated from the +sea, in most cases, by a strip of level land. On the south coast, +especially, the plains are often large, the Liguanea plain, on which +Kingston stands, having an area of 200 sq. m. Upwards of a hundred +rivers and streams find their way to the sea, besides the numerous +tributaries which issue from every ravine in the mountains. These +streams for the most part are not navigable, and in times of flood they +become devastating torrents. In the parish of Portland, the Rio Grande +receives all the smaller tributaries from the west. In St Thomas in the +east the main range is drained by the Plantain Garden river, the +tributaries of which form deep ravines and narrow gorges. The valley of +the Plantain Garden expands into a picturesque and fertile plain. The +Black river flows through a level country, and is navigable by small +craft for about 30 m. The Salt river and the Cabaritta, also in the +south, are navigable by barges. Other rivers of the south are the Rio +Cobre (on which are irrigation works for the sugar and fruit +plantations), the Yallahs and the Rio Minho; in the north are the Martha +Brae, the White river, the Great Spanish river, and the Rio Grande. +Vestiges of intermittent volcanic action occur, and there are several +medicinal springs. Jamaica has 16 harbours, the chief of which are Port +Morant, Kingston, Old Harbour, Montego Bay, Falmouth, St Ann's Bay, Port +Maria and Port Antonio. + + _Geology._--The greater part of Jamaica is covered by Tertiary + deposits, but in the Blue Mountain and some of the other ranges the + older rocks rise to the surface. The foundation of the island is + formed by a series of stratified shales and conglomerates, with tuffs + and other volcanic rocks and occasional bands of marine limestone. The + limestones contain Upper Cretaceous fossils, and the whole series has + been strongly folded. Upon this foundation rests unconformably a + series of marls and limestones of Eocene and early Oligocene age. Some + of the limestones are made of Foraminifera, together with Radiolaria, + and indicate a subsidence to abyssal depths. Nevertheless, the higher + peaks of the island still remained above the sea. Towards the middle + of the Oligocene period, mountain folding took place on an extensive + scale, and the island was raised far above its present level and was + probably connected with the rest of the Greater Antilles and perhaps + with the mainland also. At the same time plutonic rocks of various + kinds were intruded into the deposits already formed, and in some + cases produced considerable metamorphism. During the Miocene and + Pliocene periods the island again sank, but never to the depths which + it reached in the Eocene period. The deposits formed were + shallow-water conglomerates, marls and limestones, with mollusca, + brachiopoda, corals, &c. Finally, a series of successive elevations of + small amount, less than 500 ft. in the aggregate, raised the island to + its present level. The terraces which mark the successive stages in + this elevation are well shown in Montego Bay and elsewhere. The + remarkable depressions of the Cockpit country and the closed basin of + the Hector river are similar in origin to swallow-holes, and were + formed by the solution of a limestone layer resting upon insoluble + rocks. The island produces a great variety of marbles, porphyrites, + granite and ochres. Traces of gold have been found associated with + some of the oxidized copper ores (blue and green carbonates) in the + Clarendon mines. Copper ores are widely diffused but are very + expensive to work; as are the lead and cobalt which are also found. + Manganese iron ores and a form of arsenic occur. + +_Climate._--The climate is one of the island's chief attractions. Near +the coast it is warm and humid, but that of the uplands is delightfully +mild and equable. At Kingston the temperature ranges from 70.7° to 87.8° +F., and this is generally the average of all the low-lying coast land. +At Cinchona, 4907 ft. above the sea, it varies from 57.5° to 68.5°. The +vapours from the rivers and the ocean produce in the upper regions +clouds saturated with moisture which induce vegetation belonging to a +colder climate. During the rainy seasons there is such an accumulation +of these vapours as to cause a general coolness and occasion sudden +heavy showers, and sometimes destructive floods. The rainy seasons, in +May and October, last for about three weeks, although, as a rule no +month is quite without rain. The fall varies greatly; while the annual +average for the island is 66.3 in., at Kingston it is 32.6 in., at +Cinchona 105.5 in., and at some places in the north-east it exceeds 200 +in. The climate of the Santa Cruz Mountains is extremely favourable to +sufferers from tubercular and rheumatic diseases. Excepting near +morasses and lagoons, the island is very healthy, and yellow fever, once +prevalent, now rarely occurs. In the early part of the 19th century, +hurricanes often devastated Jamaica, but now, though they pass to the +N.E. and S.W. with comparative frequency, they rarely strike the island +itself. + + _Flora._--The flora is remarkable, showing types from North, Central, + and South America, with a few European forms, besides the common + plants found everywhere in the tropics. Of flowering plants there are + 2180 distinct species, and of ferns 450 species, several of both being + indigenous. The largeness of these numbers may be to some extent + accounted for by differences of altitude, temperature and humidity. + There are many beautiful flowers, such as the aloe, the yucca, the + datura, the mountain pride and the _Victoria regia_; and the cactus + tribe is well represented. The Sensitive Plant grows in pastures, and + orchids in the woods. There are forest trees fit for every purpose; + including the ballata, rosewood, satinwood, mahogany, lignum vitae, + lancewood and ebony. The logwood and fustic are exported for dyeing. + There are also the Jamaica cedar, and the silk cotton tree (_Ceiba + Bombax_). Pimento (peculiar to Jamaica) is indigenous, and furnishes + the allspice. The bamboo, coffee and cocoa are well known. Several + species of palm abound,--the macaw, the fan palm, screw palm, and + palmetto royal. There are plantations of coconut palm. The other + noticeable trees and plants are the mango, the breadfruit tree, the + papaw, the lacebark tree, and the guava. The _Palma Christi_, from + which castor oil is made, is a very abundant annual. English + vegetables grow in the hills, and the plains produce plantains, cocoa, + yams, cassava, ochra, beans, pease, ginger and arrowroot. Maize and + guinea-corn are cultivated, and the guinea-grass, accidentally + introduced in 1750, is very valuable for horses and cattle,--so much + so that pen-keeping or cattle farming is a highly profitable + occupation. Among the principal fruits are the orange, shaddock, lime, + grape or cluster fruit, pine-apple, mango, banana, grapes, melons, + avocado pear, breadfruit, and tamarind. + + _Fauna._--There are fourteen sorts of _lampyridae_ or fireflies, + besides the _elateridae_ or lantern beetles. There are no venomous + serpents, but numerous harmless snakes and lizards exist. The + land-crab is considered a table delicacy, and the land-turtle also is + eaten. The scorpion and centipede, though poisonous, are not very + dangerous. Ants, sandflies and mosquitoes swarm in the lowlands. There + are twenty different song-birds, and forty-three varieties of birds + are presumed to be peculiar to the island. The sea and the rivers + swarm with fish. Turtles abound, and the seal, the manatee and the + crocodile are sometimes found. The coral reefs, with their varied + polyps and anemones, the numerous alcyonarians and diverse + coral-dwelling animals are readily accessible to the student, and the + island is also celebrated for the number of species of its + land-shells. + +_People._--The population of the island was estimated in 1905 at +806,690. Jamaica is rich in traces of its former Arawâk inhabitants. +Aboriginal petaloid celts and other implements, flattened skulls and +vessels are common, and images are sometimes found in the large +limestone caverns of the island. The present inhabitants, of whom only +2% are white, include Maroons, the descendants of the slaves of the +Spaniards who fled into the interior when the island was captured by the +British; descendants of imported African slaves; mixed race of British +and African blood; coolies from India; a few Chinese, and the British +officials and white settlers. The Maroons live by themselves and are few +in number, while the half-castes enter into trade and sometimes into the +professions. The number of white inhabitants other than British is very +small. A negro peasant population is encouraged, with a view to its +being a support to the industries of the island; but, in many cases a +field negro will not work for his employer more than four days a week. +He may till his own plot of ground on one of the other days or not, as +the spirit moves him, but four days' work a week will keep him easily. +He has little or no care for the future. He has probably squatted on +someone's land, and has no rent to pay. Clothes he need hardly buy, fuel +he needs only for cooking, and food is ready to his hand for the +picking. Unfortunately a widespread indulgence in predial larceny is a +great hindrance to agriculture as well as to moral progress. But that +habits of thrift are being inculcated is shown by the steady increase in +the accounts in the government savings banks. That gross superstition is +still prevalent is shown by the cases of _obeah_ or witchcraft that come +before the courts from time to time. Another indication of the status of +the negro may be found in the fact that more than 60% of the births are +illegitimate, a percentage that shows an unfortunate tendency to +increase rather than diminish. + + The capital, Kingston, stands on the south-east coast, and near it is + the town of Port Royal. Spanish Town (pop. 5019), the former capital, + is in the parish of St Catherine, Middlesex, 11¾ m. by rail west of + Kingston. Since the removal of the seat of government to Kingston, the + town has gradually sunk in importance. In the cathedral many of the + governors of the island are buried. A marble statue of Rodney + commemorates his victory over the count de Grasse off Dominica in + 1782. Montego Bay (pop. 4803), on the north-west coast, is the second + town on the island, and is also a favourite bathing resort. Port + Antonio (1784) lies between two secure harbours on the north-east, and + owes its prosperity mainly to the development of the trade in fruit, + for which it is the chief place of shipment. + + _Industries._--Agricultural enterprise falls into two + classes--planting and pen-keeping, i.e. the breeding of horses, mules, + cattle and sheep. The chief products are bananas, oranges, coffee, + sugar, rum, logwood, cocoa, pimento, ginger, coco-nuts, limes, + nutmegs, pineapples, tobacco, grape-fruit and mangoes. There is a + board of agriculture, with an experimental station at Hope; there is + also an agricultural society with 26 branches throughout the colony. + Bee-keeping is a growing industry, especially among the peasants. The + land as a rule is divided into small holdings, the vast majority + consisting of five acres and less. The manufactures are few. In + addition to the sugar and coffee estates and cigar factories, there + are tanneries, distilleries, breweries, electric light and gas works, + ironfoundries, potteries and factories for the production of coconut + oil, essential oils, ice, matches and mineral waters. There is an + important establishment at Spanish Town for the production of logwood + extract. The exports, more than half of which go to the United States, + mostly comprise fruit, sugar and rum. The United States also + contributes the majority of the imports. More than half the revenue of + the colony is derived from import duties, the remainder is furnished + by excise, stamps and licences. With the exception of that of the + parish boards, there is no direct taxation. + + _Communications._--In 1900 an Imperial Direct West India Line of + steamers was started by Elder, Dempster & Co., to encourage the fruit + trade with England; it had a subsidy of £40,000, contributed jointly + by the Imperial and Jamaican governments. Two steamers go round the + island once a week, calling at the principal ports, the circuit + occupying about 120 hours. A number of sailing "droghers" also ply + from port to port. Jamaica has a number of good roads and bridle + paths; the main roads, controlled by the public works department, + encircle the island, with several branches from north to south. The + parochial roads are maintained by the parish boards. A railway + traverses the island from Kingston in the south-east to Montego Bay in + the north-west, and also branches to Port Antonio and to Ewarton. + Jamaica is included in the Postal Union and in the Imperial penny + post, and there is a weekly mail service to and from England by the + Royal Mail Line, but mails are also carried by other companies. The + island is connected by cable with the United States via Cuba, and with + Halifax, Nova Scotia via Bermuda. + + [Illustration: Map of Jamaica.] + + There is a government savings bank at Kingston with branches + throughout the island, and there are also branches of the Colonial + Bank of London and the Bank of Nova Scotia. The coins in circulation + are British gold and silver, but not bronze, instead of which local + nickel is used. United States gold passes as currency. English weights + and measures are used. + +_Administration, &c._--The island is divided into three counties, Surrey +in the east, Middlesex in the centre, and Cornwall in the west, and each +of these is subdivided into five parishes. The parish is the unit of +local government, and has jurisdiction over roads, markets, sanitation, +poor relief and waterworks. The management is vested in a parish board, +the members of which are elected. The chairman or custos is appointed by +the governor. The island is administered by a governor, who bears the +old Spanish title of captain-general, assisted by a legislative council +of five _ex officio_ members, not more than ten nominated members, and +fourteen members elected on a limited suffrage. There is also a privy +council of three _ex officio_ and not more than eight nominated members. +There is an Imperial garrison of about 2000 officers and men, with +headquarters at Newcastle, consisting of Royal Engineers, Royal +Artillery, infantry and four companies of the West India Regiment. There +is a naval station at Port Royal, and the entrance to its harbour is +strongly fortified. In addition there is a militia of infantry and +artillery, about 800 strong. + +Previous to 1870 the Church of England was established in Jamaica, but +in that year a disestablishment act was passed which provided for +gradual disendowment. It is still the most numerous body, and is +presided over by the bishop of Jamaica, who is also archbishop of the +West Indies. The Baptists, Wesleyans, Presbyterians, Moravians and +Roman Catholics are all represented; there is a Jewish synagogue at +Kingston, and the Salvation Army has a branch on the island. The Church +of England maintains many schools, a theological college, a deaconesses' +home and an orphanage. The Baptists have a theological college; and the +Roman Catholics support a training college for teachers, two industrial +schools and two orphanages. Elementary education is in private hands, +but fostered, since 1867, by government grants; it is free but not +compulsory, although the governor has the right to compel the attendance +of all children from 6 to 14 years of age in such towns and districts as +he may designate. The teachers in these schools are for the most part +trained in the government-aided training colleges of the various +denominations. For higher education there are the University College and +high school at Hope near Kingston, Potsdam School in St Elizabeth, the +Mico School and Wolmer's Free School in Kingston, founded (for boys and +girls) in 1729, the Montego Bay secondary school, and numerous other +endowed and self-supporting establishments. The Cambridge Local +Examinations have been held regularly since 1882. + +_History._--Jamaica was discovered by Columbus on the 3rd of May 1494. +Though he called it Santiago, it has always been known by its Indian +name Jaymaca, "the island of springs," modernized in form and +pronunciation into Jamaica. Excepting that in 1505 Columbus once put in +for shelter, the island remained unvisited until 1509, when Diego, the +discoverer's son, sent Don Juan d'Esquivel to take possession, and +thenceforward it passed under Spanish rule. Sant' Iago de la Vega, or +Spanish Town, which remained the capital of the island until 1872, was +founded in 1523. Sir Anthony Shirley, a British admiral, attacked the +island in 1596, and plundered and burned the capital, but did not follow +up his victory. Upon his retirement the Spaniards restored their capital +and were unmolested until 1635, when the island was again raided by the +British under Colonel Jackson. The period of the Spanish occupation is +mainly memorable for the annihilation of the gentle and peaceful Arawâk +Indian inhabitants; Don Pedro d'Esquivel was one of their cruellest +oppressors. The whole island was divided among eight noble Spanish +families, who discouraged immigration to such an extent that when +Jamaica was taken by the British the white and slave population together +did not exceed 3000. Under the vigorous foreign policy of Cromwell an +attempt was made to crush the Spanish power in the West Indies, and an +expedition under Admirals Penn and Venables succeeded in capturing and +holding Jamaica in 1655. The Spanish were entirely expelled in 1658. +Their slaves then took to the mountains, and down to the end of the 18th +century the disaffection of these Maroons, as they were called, caused +constant trouble. Jamaica continued to be governed by military authority +until 1661, when Colonel D'Oyley was appointed captain-general and +governor-in-chief with an executive council, and a constitution was +introduced resembling that of England. He was succeeded in the next year +by Lord Windsor, under whom a legislative council was established. +Jamaica soon became the chief resort of the buccaneers, who not +infrequently united the characters of merchant or planter with that of +pirate or privateer. By the Treaty of Madrid, 1670, the British title to +the island was recognized, and the buccaneers were suppressed. The Royal +African Company was formed in 1672 with a monopoly of the slave trade, +and from this time Jamaica was one of the greatest slave marts in the +world. The sugar-industry was introduced about this period, the first +pot of sugar being sent to London in 1673. An attempt was made in 1678 +to saddle the island with a yearly tribute to the Crown and to restrict +the free legislature. The privileges of the legislative assembly, +however, were restored in 1682; but not till 46 years later was the +question of revenue settled by a compromise by which Jamaica undertook +to settle £8000 (an amount afterwards commuted to £6000) per annum on +the Crown, provided that English statute laws were made binding in +Jamaica. + +During these years of political struggle the colony was thrice afflicted +by nature. A great earthquake occurred in 1692, when the chief part of +the town of Port Royal, built on a shelving bank of sand, slipped into +the sea. Two dreadful hurricanes devastated the island in 1712 and 1722, +the second of which did so much damage that the seat of commerce had to +be transferred from Port Royal to Kingston. + +The only prominent event in the history of the island during the later +years of the 18th century, was the threatened invasion by the French and +Spanish in 1782, but Jamaica was saved by the victory of Rodney and Hood +off Dominica. The last attempt at invasion was made in 1806, when the +French were defeated by Admiral Duckworth. When the slave trade was +abolished the island was at the zenith of its prosperity; sugar, coffee, +cocoa, pimento, ginger and indigo were being produced in large +quantities, and it was the dépôt of a very lucrative trade with the +Spanish main. The anti-slavery agitation in Great Britain found its echo +in the island, and in 1832 the negroes revolted, believing that +emancipation had been granted. They killed a number of whites and +destroyed a large amount of valuable property. Two years later the +Emancipation Act was passed, and, subject to a short term of +apprenticeship, the slaves were free. Emancipation left the planters in +a pitiable condition financially. The British government awarded them +compensation at the rate of £19 per slave, the market value of slaves at +the time being £35, but most of this compensation went into the hands of +the planters' creditors. They were left with over-worked estates, a poor +market and a scarcity of labour. Nor was this the end of their +misfortunes. During the slavery times the British government had +protected the planter by imposing a heavy differential duty on foreign +sugar; but on the introduction of free trade the price of sugar fell by +one-half and reduced the profits of the already impoverished planter. +Many estates, already heavily mortgaged, were abandoned, and the trade +of the island was at a standstill. Differences between the executive, +the legislature, and the home government, as to the means of retrenching +the public expenditure, created much bitterness. Although some slight +improvement marked the administration of Sir Charles Metcalfe and the +earl of Elgin, when coolie immigration was introduced to supply the +scarcity and irregularity of labour and the railway was opened, the +improvement was not permanent. In 1865 Edward John Eyre became governor. +Financial affairs were at their lowest ebb and the colonial treasury +showed a deficit of £80,000. To meet this difficulty new taxes were +imposed and discontent was rife among the negroes. Dr Underhill, the +secretary of a Baptist organization known as the British Union, wrote to +the colonial secretary in London, pointing out the state of affairs. +This letter became public in Jamaica, and in the opinion of the governor +added in no small measure to the popular excitement. On the 11th of +October 1865 the negroes rose at Morant Bay and murdered the custos and +most of the white inhabitants. The slight encounter which followed +filled the island with terror, and there is no doubt that many excesses +were committed on both sides. The assembly passed an act by which +martial law was proclaimed, and the legislature passed an act abrogating +the constitution. + +The action of Governor Eyre, though generally approved throughout the +West Indies, caused much controversy in England, and he was recalled. A +prosecution was instituted against him, resulting in an elaborate +exposition of martial law by Chief Justice Cockburn, but the jury threw +out the bill and Eyre was discharged. He was succeeded in the government +of Jamaica by Sir Henry Storks, and under the crown colony system of +government the state of the island made slow but steady progress. In +1868 the first fruit shipment took place from Port Antonio, the +immigration of coolies was revived, and cinchona planting was +introduced. The method of government was changed in 1884, when a new +constitution, slightly modified in 1895, was granted to the island. + +In the afternoon of the 14th of January 1907 a terrible earthquake +visited Kingston. Almost every building in the capital and in Port +Royal, and many in St Andrews, were destroyed or seriously injured. The +loss of life was variously estimated, but probably exceeded one +thousand. Among those killed was Sir James Fergusson, 6th baronet (b. +1832). The principal shock was followed by many more of slighter +intensity during the ensuing fortnight and later. On the 17th of January +assistance was brought by three American war-ships under Rear-Admiral +Davis, who however withdrew them on the 19th, owing to a +misunderstanding with the governor of the island, Sir Alexander +Swettenham, on the subject of the landing of marines from the vessels +with a view to preserving order. The incident caused considerable +sensation, and led to Sir A. Swettenham's resignation in the following +March, Sir Sydney Olivier, K.C.M.G., being appointed governor. Order was +speedily restored; but the destructive effect of the earthquake was a +severe check to the prosperity of the island. + + See Bryan Edwards, _History of the West Indies_ (London, 1809, and + appendix, 1819); P. H. Gosse, _Journal of a Naturalist in Jamaica_ + (London, 1851) and _Birds of Jamaica_ (1847); _Jamaica Handbook_ + (London, annual); Bacon and Aaron, _New Jamaica_ (1890); W. P. + Livingstone, _Black Jamaica_ (London, 1900), F. Cundall, _Bibliotheca + Jamaicensis_. (Kingston, 1895), and _Studies in Jamaica History_ + (1900); W. J. Gardner, _History of Jamaica_ (New York, 1909). For + geology, see R. T. Hill, "The Geology and Physical Geography of + Jamaica," _Bull. Mus. Com. Zool. Harvard_, xxxiv. (1899). + + + + +JAMAICA, formerly a village of Queens county, Long Island, New York, +U.S.A., but after the 1st of January 1898 a part of the borough of +Queens, New York City. Pop. (1890) 5361. It is served by the Long Island +railroad, the lines of which from Brooklyn and Manhattan meet here and +then separate to serve the different regions of the island.[1] King's +Park (about 10 acres) comprises the estate of John Alsop King +(1788-1867), governor of New York in 1857-1859, from whose heirs in 1897 +the land was purchased by the village trustees. In South Jamaica there +is a race track, at which meetings are held in the spring and autumn. +The headquarters of the Queens Borough Department of Public Works and +Police are in the Jamaica town-hall, and Jamaica is the seat of a city +training school for teachers (until 1905 one of the New York State +normal schools). For two guns, a coat, and a quantity of powder and +lead, several New Englanders obtained from the Indians a deed for a +tract of land here in September 1655. In March 1657 they received +permission from Governor Stuyvesant to found a town, which was chartered +in 1660 and was named Rustdorp by Stuyvesant, but the English called it +Jamaica; it was rechartered in 1666, 1686 and 1788. The village was +incorporated in 1814 and reincorporated in 1855. In 1665 it was made the +seat of justice of the north riding; in 1683-1788 it was the shire town +of Queens county. With Hempstead, Gravesend, Newtown and Flushing, also +towns of New England origin and type, Jamaica was early disaffected +towards the provincial government of New York. In 1669 these towns +complained that they had no representation in a popular assembly, and in +1670 they protested against taxation without representation. The +founders of Jamaica were mostly Presbyterians, and they organized one of +the first Presbyterian churches in America. At the beginning of the War +of Independence Jamaica was under the control of Loyalists; after the +defeat of the Americans in the battle of Long Island (27th August 1776) +it was occupied by the British; and until the end of the war it was the +headquarters of General Oliver Delancey, who had command of all Long +Island. + + +FOOTNOTE: + + [1] In June 1908 the subway lines of the interborough system of New + York City were extended to the Flatbush (Brooklyn) station of the Long + Island railroad, thus bringing Jamaica into direct connexion with + Manhattan borough by way of the East river tunnel, completed in the + same year. + + + + +JAMB (from Fr. _jambe_, leg), in architecture, the side-post or lining +of a doorway or other aperture. The jambs of a window outside the frame +are called "reveals." Small shafts to doors and windows with caps and +bases are known as "jamb-shafts"; when in the inside arris of the jamb +of a window they are sometimes called "scoinsons." + + + + +JAMES (a variant of the name Jacob, Heb. [Hebrew: Yaacov], one who holds +by the heel, outwitter, through O. Fr. _James_, another form of +_Jacques_, _Jaques_, from Low Lat. _Jacobus_; cf. Ital. _Jacopo_ +[Jacob], _Giacomo_ [James], Prov. _Jacme_, Cat. _Jaume_, Cast. +_Jaime_), a masculine proper name popular in Christian countries as +having been that of two of Christ's apostles. It has been borne by many +sovereigns and other princes, the most important of whom are noticed +below, after the heading devoted to the characters in the New Testament, +in the following order: (1) kings of England and Scotland, (2) other +kings in the alphabetical order of their countries, (3) the "Old +Pretender." The article on the Epistle of James in the New Testament +follows after the remaining biographical articles in which James is a +surname. + + + + +JAMES (Gr. [Greek: Iakôbos], the Heb. _Ya'akob_ or Jacob), the name of +several persons mentioned in the New Testament. + +1. JAMES, the son of Zebedee. He was among the first who were called to +be Christ's immediate followers (Mark i. 19 seq.; Matt. iv. 21 seq., and +perhaps Luke v. 10), and afterwards obtained an honoured place in the +apostolic band, his name twice occupying the second place after Peter's +in the lists (Mark iii. 17; Acts i. 13), while on at least three notable +occasions he was, along with Peter and his brother John, specially +chosen by Jesus to be with him (Mark v. 37; Matt. xvii. i, xxvi. 37). +This same prominence may have contributed partly to the title +"Boanerges" or "sons of thunder" which, according to Mark iii. 17, Jesus +himself gave to the two brothers. But its most natural interpretation is +to be found in the impetuous disposition which would have called down +fire from heaven on the offending Samaritan villagers (Luke ix. 54), and +afterwards found expression, though in a different way, in the ambitious +request to occupy the places of honour in Christ's kingdom (Mark x. 35 +seq.). James is included among those who after the ascension waited at +Jerusalem (Acts i. 13) for the descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of +Pentecost. And though on this occasion only his name is mentioned, he +must have been a zealous and prominent member of the Christian +community, to judge from the fact that when a victim had to be chosen +from among the apostles, who should be sacrificed to the animosity of +the Jews, it was on James that the blow fell first. The brief notice is +given in Acts xii. 1, 2. Eusebius (_Hist. Eccl._ ii. 9) has preserved +for us from Clement of Alexandria the additional information that the +accuser of the apostle "beholding his confession and moved thereby, +confessed that he too was a Christian. So they were both led away to +execution together; and on the road the accuser asked James for +forgiveness. Gazing on him for a little while, he said, 'Peace be with +thee,' and kissed him. And then both were beheaded together." + + The later, and wholly untrustworthy, legends which tell of the + apostle's preaching in Spain, and of the translation of his body to + Santiago de Compostela, are to be found in the _Acta Sanctorum_ (July + 25), vi. 1-124; see also Mrs Jameson's _Sacred and Legendary Art_, i. + 230-241. + +2. JAMES, the son of Alphaeus. He also was one of the apostles, and is +mentioned in all the four lists (Matt. x. 3; Mark iii. 18; Luke vi. 15; +Acts i. 13) by this name. We know nothing further regarding him, unless +we believe him to be the same as James "the little." + +3. JAMES, the little. He is described as the son of a Mary (Matt, xxvii. +56; Mark xv. 40), who was in all probability the wife of Clopas (John +xix. 25). And on the ground that Clopas is another form of the name +Alphaeus, this James has been thought by some to be the same as 2. But +the evidence of the Syriac versions, which render Alphaeus by +_Chalphai_, while Clopas is simply transliterated _Kleopha_, makes it +extremely improbable that the two names are to be identified. And as we +have no better ground for finding in Clopas the Cleopas of Luke xxiv. +18, we must be content to admit that James the little is again an almost +wholly unknown personality, and has no connexion with any of the other +Jameses mentioned in the New Testament. + +4. JAMES, the father of Judas. There can be no doubt that in the mention +of "Judas of James" in Luke vi. 16 the ellipsis should be supplied by +"the son" and not as in the A.V. by "the brother" (cf. Luke iii. 1, vi. +14; Acts xii. 2, where the word [Greek: adelphos] is inserted). This +Judas, known as Thaddaeus by Matthew and Mark, afterwards became one of +the apostles, and is expressly distinguished by St John from the traitor +as "not Iscariot" (John xiv. 22). + +5. JAMES, the Lord's brother. In Matt. xiii. 55 and Mark vi. 3 we read +of a certain James as, along with Joses and Judas and Simon, a "brother" +of the Lord. The exact nature of the relationship there implied has been +the subject of much discussion. Jerome's view (_de vir. ill._ 2), that +the "brothers" were in reality cousins, "sons of Mary the sister of the +Lord's mother," rests on too many unproved assumptions to be entitled to +much weight, and may be said to have been finally disposed of by Bishop +Lightfoot in his essay on "The Brothers of the Lord" (_Galatians_, pp. +252 sqq., _Dissertations on the Apostolic Age_, pp. 1 sqq.). Even +however if we understand the word "brethren" in its natural sense, it +may be applied either to the sons of Joseph by a former wife, in which +case they would be the step-brothers of Jesus, or to sons born to Joseph +and Mary after the birth of Jesus. The former of these views, generally +known as the _Epiphanian_ view from its most zealous advocate in the 4th +century, can claim for its support the preponderating voice of tradition +(see the catena of references given by Lightfoot, _loc. cit._, who +himself inclines to this view). On the other hand the _Helvidian_ theory +as propounded by Helvidius, and apparently accepted by Tertullian (cf. +_adv. Marc._ iv. 29), which makes James a brother of the Lord, as truly +as Mary was his mother, undoubtedly seems more in keeping with the +direct statements of the Gospels, and also with the after history of the +brothers in the Church (see W. Patrick, _James the Brother of the Lord_, +1906, p. 5). In any case, whatever the exact nature of James's +antecedents, there can be no question as to the important place which he +occupied in the early Church. Converted to a full belief in the living +Lord, perhaps through the special revelation that was granted to him (1 +Cor. xv. 7), he became the recognized head of the Church at Jerusalem +(Acts xii. 17, xv. 13, xxi. 18), and is called by St Paul (Gal. ii. 9), +along with Peter and John, a "pillar" of the Christian community. He was +traditionally the author of the epistle in the New Testament which bears +his name (see JAMES, EPISTLE OF). From the New Testament we learn no +more of the history of James the Lord's brother, but Eusebius (_Hist. +Eccl._ ii. 23) has preserved for us from Hegesippus the earliest +ecclesiastical traditions concerning him. By that authority he is +described as having been a Nazarite, and on account of his eminent +righteousness called "Just" and "Oblias." So great was his influence +with the people that he was appealed to by the scribes and Pharisees for +a true and (as they hoped) unfavourable judgment about the Messiahship +of Christ. Placed, to give the greater publicity to his words, on a +pinnacle of the temple, he, when solemnly appealed to, made confession +of his faith, and was at once thrown down and murdered. This happened +immediately before the siege. Josephus (_Antiq._ xx. 9, 1) tells that it +was by order of Ananus the high priest, in the interval between the +death of Festus and the arrival of his successor Albinus, that James was +put to death; and his narrative gives the idea of some sort of judicial +examination, for he says that along with some others James was brought +before an assembly of judges, by whom they were condemned and delivered +to be stoned. Josephus is also cited by Eusebius (_Hist. Eccl._ ii. 23) +to the effect that the miseries of the siege were due to divine +vengeance for the murder of James. Later writers describe James as an +[Greek: episkopos] (Clem. Al. _apud_ Eus. _Hist. Ecc._ ii. 1) and even +as an [Greek: episkopos episkopôn] (Clem. _Hom., ad init._). According +to Eusebius (_Hist. Eccl._ vii. 19) his episcopal chair was still shown +at Jerusalem at the time when Eusebius wrote. + + BIBLIOGRAPHY.--In addition to the relevant literature cited above, see + the articles under the heading "James" in Hastings's _Dictionary of + the Bible_ (Mayor) and _Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels_ + (Fulford), and in the _Encycl. Biblica_ (O. Cone); also the + introductions to the Commentaries on the Epistle of James by Mayor and + Knowling. Zahn has an elaborate essay on _Brüder und Vettern Jesu_ + ("The Brothers and Cousins of Jesus") in the _Forschungen zur + Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons_, vi. 2 (Leipzig, 1900). + (G. Mi.) + + + + + +JAMES I. (1566-1625), king of Great Britain and Ireland, formerly king +of Scotland as James VI., was the only child of Mary Queen of Scots, and +her second husband, Henry Stewart Lord Darnley. He was born in the +castle of Edinburgh on the 19th of June 1566, and was proclaimed king of +Scotland on the 24th of July 1567, upon the forced abdication of his +mother. Until 1578 he was treated as being incapable of taking any real +part in public affairs, and was kept in the castle of Stirling for +safety's sake amid the confused fighting of the early years of his +minority. + +The young king was a very weakly boy. It is said that he could not stand +without support until he was seven, and although he lived until he was +nearly sixty, he was never a strong man. In after life he was a constant +and even a reckless rider, but the weakness in his legs was never quite +cured. During a great part of his life he found it necessary to be tied +to the saddle. When on one occasion in 1621 his horse threw him into the +New River near his palace of Theobalds in the neighbourhood of London, +he had a very narrow escape of being drowned; yet he continued to ride +as before. At all times he preferred to lean on the shoulder of an +attendant when walking. This feebleness of body, which had no doubt a +large share in causing certain corresponding deficiencies of character, +was attributed to the agitations and the violent efforts forced on his +mother by the murder of her secretary Rizzio when she was in the sixth +month of her pregnancy. The fact that James was a bold rider, in spite +of this serious disqualification for athletic exercise, should be borne +in mind when he is accused of having been a coward. + +The circumstances surrounding him in boyhood were not favourable to the +development of his character. His immediate guardian or foster-father, +the earl of Mar, was indeed an honourable man, and the countess, who had +charge of the nursing of the king, discharged her duty so as to win his +lasting confidence. James afterwards entrusted her with the care of his +eldest son, Henry. When the earl died in 1572 his place was well filled +by his brother, Sir Alexander Erskine. The king's education was placed +under the care of George Buchanan, assisted by Peter Young, and two +other tutors. Buchanan, who did not spare the rod, and the other +teachers, who had more reverence for the royal person, gave the boy a +sound training in languages. The English envoy, Sir Henry Killigrew, who +saw him in 1574, testified to his proficiency in translating from and +into Latin and French. As it was very desirable that he should be +trained a Protestant king, he was well instructed in theology. The +exceptionally scholastic quality of his education helped to give him a +taste for learning, but also tended to make him a pedant. + +James was only twelve when the earl of Morton was driven from the +regency, and for some time after he can have been no more than a puppet +in the hands of intriguers and party leaders. When, for instance, in +1582 he was seized by the faction of nobles who carried out the +so-called raid of Ruthven, which was in fact a kidnapping enterprise +carried out in the interest of the Protestant party, he cried like a +child. One of the conspirators, the master of Glamis, Sir Thomas Lyon, +told him that it was better "bairns should greet [children should cry] +than bearded men." It was not indeed till 1583, when he broke away from +his captors, that James began to govern in reality. + +For the history of his reign reference may be made to the articles on +the histories of England and Scotland. James's work as a ruler can be +divided, without violating any sound rule of criticism, into black and +white--into the part which was a failure and a preparation for future +disaster, and the part which was solid achievement, honourable to +himself and profitable to his people. His native kingdom of Scotland had +the benefit of the second. Between 1583 and 1603 he reduced the +anarchical baronage of Scotland to obedience, and replaced the +subdivision of sovereignty and consequent confusion, which had been the +very essence of feudalism, by a strong centralized royal authority. In +fact he did in Scotland the work which had been done by the Tudors in +England, by Louis XI. in France, and by Ferdinand and Isabella in Spain. +It was the work of all the strong rulers of the Renaissance. But James +not only brought his disobedient and intriguing barons to order--that +was a comparatively easy achievement and might well have been performed +by more than one of his predecessors, had their lives been prolonged--he +also quelled the attempts of the Protestants to found what Hallam has +well defined as a "Presbyterian Hildebrandism." He enforced the +superiority of the state over the church. Both before his accession to +the throne of England (1603) and afterwards he took an intelligent +interest in the prosperity of his Scottish kingdom, and did much for the +pacification of the Hebrides, for the enforcement of order on the +Borders, and for the development of industry. That he did so much +although the crown was poor (largely it must be confessed because he +made profuse gifts of the secularized church lands), and although the +armed force at his disposal was so small that to the very end he was +exposed to the attacks of would-be kidnappers (as in the case of the +Gowrie conspiracy of 1600), is proof positive that he was neither the +mere poltroon nor the mere learned fool he has often been called. + +James's methods of achieving ends in themselves honourable and +profitable were indeed of a kind which has made posterity unjust to his +real merits. The circumstances in which he passed his youth developed in +him a natural tendency to craft. He boasted indeed of his "king-craft" +and probably believed that he owed it to his studies. But it was in +reality the resource of the weak, the art of playing off one possible +enemy against another by trickery, and so deceiving all. The marquis de +Fontenay, the French ambassador, who saw him in the early part of his +reign, speaks of him as cowed by the violence about him. It is certain +that James was most unscrupulous in making promises which he never meant +to keep, and the terror in which he passed his youth sufficiently +explains his preference for guile. He would make promises to everybody, +as when he wrote to the pope in 1584 more than hinting that he would be +a good Roman Catholic if helped in his need. His very natural desire to +escape from the poverty and insecurity of Scotland to the opulent +English throne not only kept him busy in intrigues to placate the Roman +Catholics or anybody else who could help or hinder him, but led him to +behave basely in regard to the execution of his mother in 1587. He +blustered to give himself an air of courage, but took good care to do +nothing to offend Elizabeth. When the time came for fulfilling his +promises and half-promises, he was not able, even if he had been +willing, to keep his word to everybody. The methods which had helped him +to success in Scotland did him harm in England, where his reign prepared +the way for the great civil war. In his southern kingdom his failure was +in fact complete. Although England accepted him as the alternative to +civil war, and although he was received and surrounded with fulsome +flattery, he did not win the respect of his English subjects. His +undignified personal appearance was against him, and so were his +garrulity, his Scottish accent, his slovenliness and his toleration of +disorders in his court, but, above all, his favour for handsome male +favourites, whom he loaded with gifts and caressed with demonstrations +of affection which laid him open to vile suspicions. In ecclesiastical +matters he offended many, who contrasted his severity and rudeness to +the Puritan divines at the Hampton Court conference (1604) with his +politeness to the Roman Catholics, whom he, however, worried by fits and +starts. In a country where the authority of the state had been firmly +established and the problem was how to keep it from degenerating into +the mere instrument of a king's passions, his insistence on the doctrine +of divine right aroused distrust and hostility. In itself, and in its +origin, the doctrine was nothing more than a necessary assertion of the +independence of the state in face of the "Hildebrandism" of Rome and +Geneva alike. But when Englishmen were told that the king alone had +indefeasible rights, and that all the privileges of subjects were +revocable gifts, they were roused to hostility. His weaknesses cast +suspicion on his best-meant schemes. His favour for his countrymen +helped to defeat his wise wish to bring about a full union between +England and Scotland. His profusion, which had been bad in the poverty +of Scotland and was boundless amid the wealth of England, kept him +necessitous, and drove him to shifts. Posterity can give him credit for +his desire to forward religious peace in Europe, but his Protestant +subjects were simply frightened when he sought a matrimonial alliance +with Spain. Sagacious men among his contemporaries could not see the +consistency of a king who married his daughter Elizabeth to the elector +palatine, a leader of the German Protestants, and also sought to marry +his son to an infanta of Spain. The king's subservience to Spain was +indeed almost besotted. He could not see her real weakness, and he +allowed himself to be befooled by the ministers of Philip III. and +Philip IV. The end of his scheming was that he was dragged into a +needless war with Spain by his son Charles and his favourite George +Villiers, duke of Buckingham, just before his death on the 5th of March +1625 at his favourite residence, Theobalds. + +James married in 1589 Anne, second daughter of Frederick II., king of +Denmark. His voyage to meet his bride, whose ship had been driven into a +Norwegian port by bad weather, is the only episode of a romantic +character in the life of this very prosaic member of a poetic family. By +this wife James had three children who survived infancy: Henry +Frederick, prince of Wales, who died in 1612; Charles, the future king; +and Elizabeth, wife of the elector palatine, Frederick V. + +Not the least of James's many ambitions was the desire to excel as an +author. He left a body of writings which, though of mediocre quality as +literature, entitle him to a unique place among English kings since +Alfred for width of intellectual interest and literary faculty. His +efforts were inspired by his preceptor George Buchanan, whose memory he +cherished in later years. His first work was in verse, _Essayes of a +Prentise in the Divine Art of Poesie_ (Edin. Vautrollier, 1584), +containing fifteen sonnets, "Ane Metaphoricall invention of a tragedie +called Phoenix," a short poem "Of Time," translations from Du Bartas, +Lucan and the Book of Psalms ("out of Tremellius"), and a prose tract +entitled "Ane short treatise, containing some Reulis and Cautelis to be +observit and eschewit in Scottis Poesie." The volume is introduced by +commendatory sonnets, including one by Alexander Montgomerie. The chief +interest of the book lies in the "Treatise" and the prefatory sonnets +"To the Reader" and "Sonnet decifring the perfyte poete." There is +little originality in this youthful production. It has been surmised +that it was compiled from the exercises written when the author was +Buchanan's pupil at Stirling, and that it was directly suggested by his +preceptor's _De Prosodia_ and his annotations on Vives. On the other +hand, it shows intimate acquaintance with the critical reflections of +Ronsard and Du Bellay, and of Gascoigne in his _Notes of Instruction_ +(1575). In 1591 James published _Poeticall Exercises at Vacant Houres_, +including a translation of the _Furies_ of Du Bartas, his own _Lepanto_, +and Du Bartas's version of it, _La Lepanthe_. His _Daemonologie_, a +prose treatise denouncing witchcraft and exhorting the civil power to +the strongest measures of suppression, appeared in 1599. In the same +year he printed the first edition (seven copies) of his _Basilikon +Doron_, strongly Protestant in tone. A French edition, specially +translated for presentation to the pope, has a disingenuous preface +explaining that certain phrases (e.g. "papistical doctrine") are +omitted, because of the difficulty of rendering them in a foreign +tongue. The original edition was, however, translated by order of the +suspicious pope, and was immediately placed on the Index. Shortly after +going to England James produced his famous _Counterblaste to Tobacco_ +(London, 1604), in which he forsakes his Scots tongue for Southern +English. The volume was published anonymously. James's prose works +(including his speeches) were collected and edited (folio, 1616) by +James Montagu, bishop of Winchester, and were translated into Latin by +the same hand in a companion folio, in 1619 (also Frankfort, 1689). A +tract, entitled "The True Law of Free Monarchies," appeared in 1603; "An +Apology for the Oath of Allegiance" in 1607; and a "_Déclaration du Roy +Jacques I. ... pour le droit des Rois_" in 1615. In 1588 and 1589 James +issued two small volumes of _Meditations_ on some verses of (a) +Revelations and (b) 1 Chronicles. Other two "meditations" were printed +posthumously. + + See T. F. Henderson, _James I. and VI._ (London, 1904); P. Hume Brown, + _History of Scotland_, vol. ii. (Edinburgh and Cambridge, 1902); and + Andrew Lang, _History of Scotland_, vol. ii. (Edinburgh, 1902) and + _James VI. and the Gowrie Mystery_ (London, 1902); _The Register of + the Privy Council of Scotland_ (Edinburgh, 1877, &c.), vols. ii. to + xiii.; S. R. Gardiner, _History of England 1603-1642_ (London, + 1883-1884). A comprehensive bibliography will be found in the + _Cambridge Modern Hist._ iii. 847 (Cambridge, 1904). + + For James's literary work, see Edward Arber's reprint of the _Essayes + and Counterblaste_ ("English Reprints," 1869, &c.); R. S. Rait's + _Lusus Regius_ (1900); G. Gregory Smith's _Elizabethan Critical + Essays_ (1904), vol. i., where the _Treatise_ is edited for the first + time; A. O. Meyer's "Clemens VIII. und Jacob I. von England" in + _Quellen und Forschungen_ (Preuss. Hist. Inst.), VII. ii., for an + account of the issues of the _Basilikon Doron_; P. Hume Brown's + _George Buchanan_ (1890), pp. 250-261, for a sketch of James's + association with Buchanan. + + + + +JAMES II. (1633-1701), king of Great Britain and Ireland, second +surviving son of Charles I. and Henrietta Maria, was born at St James's +on the 15th of October 1633, and created duke of York in January 1643. +During the Civil War James was taken prisoner by Fairfax (1646), but +contrived to escape to Holland in 1648. Subsequently he served in the +French army under Turenne, and in the Spanish under Condé, and was +applauded by both commanders for his brilliant personal courage. +Returning to England with Charles II. in 1660 he was appointed lord high +admiral and warden of the Cinque Ports. Pepys, who was secretary to the +navy, has recorded the patient industry and unflinching probity of his +naval administration. His victory over the Dutch in 1665, and his drawn +battle with De Ruyter in 1672, show that he was a good naval commander +as well as an excellent administrator. These achievements won him a +reputation for high courage, which, until the close of 1688, was amply +deserved. His private record was not as good as his public. In December +1660 he admitted to having contracted, under discreditable +circumstances, a secret marriage with Anne Hyde (1637-1671), daughter of +Lord Clarendon, in the previous September. Both before and after the +marriage he seems to have been a libertine as unblushing though not so +fastidious as Charles himself. In 1672 he made a public avowal of his +conversion to Roman Catholicism. Charles II. had opposed this project, +but in 1673 allowed him to marry the Catholic Mary of Modena as his +second wife. Both houses of parliament, who viewed this union with +abhorrence, now passed the Test Act, forbidding Catholics to hold +office. In consequence of this James was forced to resign his posts. It +was in vain that he married his daughter Mary to the Protestant prince +of Orange in 1677. Anti-Catholic feeling ran so high that, after the +discovery of the Popish Plot, he found it wiser to retire to Brussels +(1679), while Shaftesbury and the Whigs planned to exclude him from the +succession. He was lord high commissioner of Scotland (1680-1682), where +he occupied himself in a severe persecution of the Covenanters. In 1684 +Charles, having triumphed over the Exclusionists, restored James to the +office of high admiral by use of his dispensing power. + +James ascended the throne on the 16th of February 1685. The nation +showed its loyalty by its firm adherence to him during the rebellions of +Argyll in Scotland and Monmouth in England (1685). The savage reprisals +on their suppression, in especial the "Bloody Assizes" of Jeffreys, +produced a revulsion of public feeling. James had promised to defend the +existing Church and government, but the people now became suspicious. +James was not a mere tyrant and bigot, as the popular imagination +speedily assumed him to be. He was rather a mediocre but not altogether +obtuse man, who mistook tributary streams for the main currents of +national thought. Thus he greatly underrated the strength of the +Establishment, and preposterously exaggerated that of Dissent and +Catholicism. He perceived that opinion was seriously divided in the +Established Church, and thought that a vigorous policy would soon prove +effective. Hence he publicly celebrated Mass, prohibited preaching +against Catholicism, and showed exceptional favour to renegades from the +Establishment. By undue pressure he secured a decision of the judges, in +the test case of _Godden_ v. _Hale_ (1687), by which he was allowed to +dispense Catholics from the Test Act. Catholics were now admitted to the +chief offices in the army, and to some important posts in the state, in +virtue of the dispensing power of James. The judges had been intimidated +or corrupted, and the royal promise to protect the Establishment +violated. The army had been increased to 20,000 men and encamped at +Hounslow Heath to overawe the capital. Public alarm was speedily +manifested and suspicion to a high degree awakened. In 1687 James made a +bid for the support of the Dissenters by advocating a system of joint +toleration for Catholics and Dissenters. In April 1687 he published a +Declaration of Indulgence--exempting Catholics and Dissenters from penal +statutes. He followed up this measure by dissolving parliament and +attacking the universities. By an unscrupulous use of the dispensing +power he introduced Dissenters and Catholics into all departments of +state and into the municipal corporations, which were remodelled in +their interests. Then in April 1688 he took the suicidal step of issuing +a proclamation to force the clergy and bishops to read the Declaration +in their pulpits, and thus personally advocate a measure they detested. +Seven bishops refused, were indicted by James for libel, but acquitted +amid the indescribable enthusiasm of the populace. Protestant nobles of +England, enraged at the tolerant policy of James, had been in +negotiation with William of Orange since 1687. The trial of the seven +bishops, and the birth of a son to James, now induced them to send +William a definite invitation (June 30, 1688). James remained in a +fool's paradise till the last, and only awakened to his danger when +William landed at Torbay (November 5, 1688) and swept all before him. +James pretended to treat, and in the midst of the negotiations fled to +France. He was intercepted at Faversham and brought back, but the +politic prince of Orange allowed him to escape a second time (December +23, 1688). + +At the end of 1688 James seemed to have lost his old courage. After his +defeat at the Boyne (July 1, 1690) he speedily departed from Ireland, +where he had so conducted himself that his English followers had been +ashamed of his incapacity, while French officers had derided him. His +proclamations and policy towards England during these years show +unmistakable traces of the same incompetence. On the 17th of May 1692 he +saw the French fleet destroyed before his very eyes off Cape La Hogue. +He was aware of, though not an open advocate of the "Assassination +Plot," which was directed against William. By its revelation and failure +(February 10, 1696) the third and last serious attempt of James for his +restoration failed. He refused in the same year to accept the French +influence in favour of his candidature to the Polish throne, on the +ground that it would exclude him from the English. Henceforward he +neglected politics, and Louis of France ceased to consider him as a +political factor. A mysterious conversion had been effected in him by an +austere Cistercian abbot. The world saw with astonishment this vicious, +rough, coarse-fibred man of the world transformed into an austere +penitent, who worked miracles of healing. Surrounded by this odour of +sanctity, which greatly edified the faithful, James lived at St Germain +until his death on the 17th of September 1701. + +The political ineptitude of James is clear; he often showed firmness +when conciliation was needful, and weakness when resolution alone could +have saved the day. Moreover, though he mismanaged almost every +political problem with which he personally dealt, he was singularly +tactless and impatient of advice. But in general political morality he +was not below his age, and in his advocacy of toleration decidedly above +it. He was more honest and sincere than Charles II., more genuinely +patriotic in his foreign policy, and more consistent in his religious +attitude. That his brother retained the throne while James lost it is an +ironical demonstration that a more pitiless fate awaits the ruler whose +faults are of the intellect, than one whose faults are of the heart. + +By Anne Hyde James had eight children, of whom two only, Mary and Anne, +both queens of England, survived their father. By Mary of Modena he had +seven children, among them being James Francis Edward (the Old +Pretender) and Louisa Maria Theresa, who died at St Germain in 1712. By +one mistress, Arabella Churchill (1648-1730), he had two sons, James, +duke of Berwick, and Henry (1673-1702), titular duke of Albemarle and +grand prior of France, and a daughter, Henrietta (1667-1730), who +married Sir Henry Waldegrave, afterwards Baron Waldegrave; and by +another, Catherine Sedley, countess of Dorchester (1657-1717), a +daughter, Catherine (d. 1743), who married James Annesley, 5th earl of +Anglesey, and afterwards John Sheffield, duke of Buckingham and +Normanby. + + BIBLIOGRAPHY.--_Original Authorities_: J. S. Clarke, _James II. Life_ + (London, 1816); James Macpherson, _Original Papers_ (2 vols., London, + 1775); Gilbert Burnet, _Supplement to History_, ed. H. C. Foxcroft + (Oxford, 1902); Earl of Clarendon and Earl of Rochester, + _Correspondence_, vol. ii. (London, 1828); John Evelyn, _Diary and + Correspondence and Life_, edited by Bray and Wheatley (London, 1906); + Sir John Reresby, _Memoirs_, ed. A. Ivatt (1904); _Somers Tracts_, + vols, ix.-xi. (London, 1823). _Modern Works_: Lord Acton, _Lectures on + Modern History_, pp. 195-276 (London, 1906); Moritz Brosch, + _Geschichte von England_, Bd. viii. (Gotha, 1903); Onno Klopp, _Der + Fall des Hauses Stuart_, Bde. i.-ix. (Vienna, 1875-1878); L. von + Ranke, _History of England_, vols, iv.-vi. (Oxford, 1875); and Allan + Fea, _James II. and his Wives_ (1908). + + + + +JAMES I. (1394-1437), king of Scotland and poet, the son of King Robert +III., was born at Dunfermline in July 1394. After the death of his +mother, Annabella Drummond of Stobhall, in 1402, he was placed under the +care of Henry Wardlaw (d. 1440), who became bishop of St Andrews in +1403, but soon his father resolved to send him to France. Robert +doubtless decided upon this course owing to the fact that in 1402 his +elder son, David, duke of Rothesay, had met his death in a mysterious +fashion, being probably murdered by his uncle, Robert, duke of Albany, +who, as the king was an invalid, was virtually the ruler of Scotland. On +the way to France, however, James fell into the hands of some English +sailors and was sent to Henry IV., who refused to admit him to ransom. +The chronicler Thomas Walsingham, says that James's imprisonment began +in 1406, while the future king himself places it in 1404; February 1406 +is probably the correct date. On the death of Robert III. in April 1406 +James became nominally king of Scotland, but he remained a captive in +England, the government being conducted by his uncle, Robert of Albany, +who showed no anxiety to procure his nephew's release. Dying in 1420, +Albany was succeeded as regent by his son, Murdoch. At first James was +confined in the Tower of London, but in June 1407 he was removed to the +castle at Nottingham, whence about a month later he was taken to +Evesham. His education was continued by capable tutors, and he not only +attained excellence in all manly sports, but became perhaps more +cultured than any other prince of his age. In person he was short and +stout, but well-proportioned and very strong. His agility was not less +remarkable than his strength; he excelled in all athletic feats which +demanded suppleness of limb and quickness of eye. As regards his +intellectual attainments he is reported to have been acquainted with +philosophy, and it is evident from his subsequent career that he had +studied jurisprudence; moreover, besides being proficient in vocal and +instrumental music, he cultivated the art of poetry with much success. +When Henry V. became king in March 1413, James was again imprisoned in +the Tower of London, but soon afterwards he was taken to Windsor and was +treated with great consideration by the English king. In 1420, with the +intention of detaching the Scottish auxiliaries from the French +standard, he was sent to take part in Henry's campaign in France; this +move failed in its immediate object and he returned to England after +Henry's death in 1422. About this time negotiations for the release of +James were begun in earnest, and in September 1423 a treaty was signed +at York, the Scottish nation undertaking to pay a ransom of 60,000 marks +"for his maintenance in England." By the terms of the treaty James was +to wed a noble English lady, and on the 12th of February 1424 he was +married at Southwark to Jane, daughter of John Beaufort, earl of +Somerset, a lady to whom he was faithful through life. Ten thousand +marks of his ransom were remitted as Jane's dowry, and in April 1424 +James and his bride entered Scotland. + +With the reign of James I., whose coronation took place at Scone on the +21st of May 1424, constitutional sovereignty may be said to begin in +Scotland. By the introduction of a system of statute law, modelled to +some extent on that of England, and by the additional importance +assigned to parliament, the leaven was prepared which was to work +towards the destruction of the indefinite authority of the king, and of +the unbridled licence of the nobles. During the parliament held at Perth +in March 1425 James arrested Murdoch, duke of Albany, and his son, +Alexander; together with Albany's eldest son, Walter, and Duncan, earl +of Lennox, who had been seized previously; they were sentenced to death, +and the four were executed at Stirling. In a parliament held at +Inverness in 1427 the king arrested many turbulent northern chiefs, and +his whole policy was directed towards crushing the power of the nobles. +In this he was very successful. Expeditions reduced the Highlands to +order; earldom after earldom was forfeited; but this vigour aroused the +desire for revenge, and at length cost James his life. Having been +warned that he would never again cross the Forth, the king went to +reside in Perth just before Christmas 1436. Among those whom he had +angered was Sir Robert Graham (d. 1437), who had been banished by his +orders. Instigated by the king's uncle, Walter Stewart, earl of Atholl +(d. 1437), and aided by the royal chamberlain, Sir Robert Stewart, and +by a band of Highlanders, Graham burst into the presence of James on the +night of the 20th of February 1437 and stabbed the king to death. Graham +and Atholl were afterwards tortured and executed. James had two sons: +Alexander, who died young, and James II., who succeeded to the throne; +and six daughters, among them being Margaret, the queen of Louis XI. of +France. His widow, Jane, married Sir James Stewart, the "black knight of +Lorne," and died on the 15th of July 1445. + +During the latter part of James's reign difficulties arose between +Scotland and England and also between Scotland and the papacy. Part of +the king's ransom was still owing to England; other causes of discord +between the two nations existed, and in 1436 these culminated in a short +war. In ecclesiastical matters James showed himself merciless towards +heretics, but his desire to reform the Scottish Church and to make it +less dependent on Rome brought him into collision with Popes Martin V. +and Eugenius IV. + +James was the author of two poems, the _Kingis Quair_ and _Good Counsel_ +(a short piece of three stanzas). The _Song of Absence_, _Peblis to the +Play_ and _Christis Kirk on the Greene_ have been ascribed to him +without evidence. _The Kingis Quair_ (preserved in the Selden MS. B. 24 +in the Bodleian) is an allegorical poem of the _cours d'amour_ type, +written in seven-lined Chaucerian stanzas and extending to 1379 lines. +It was composed during James's captivity in England and celebrates his +courtship of Lady Jane Beaufort. Though in many respects a Chaucerian +_pastiche_, it not rarely equals its model in verbal and metrical +felicity. Its language is an artificial blend of northern and southern +(Chaucerian) forms, of the type shown in _Lancelot of the Laik_ and the +_Quair of Jelusy_. + + BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The contemporary authorities for the reign of James I. + are Andrew of Wyntoun, _The Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland_, edited by + D. Laing (Edinburgh, 1872-1879); and Walter Bower's continuation of + John of Fordun's _Scotichronicon_, edited by T. Hearne (Oxford, 1722). + See also J. Pinkerton, _History of Scotland_ (1797); A. Lang, _History + of Scotland_, vol. i. (1900); and G. Burnett, _Introduction to the + Exchequer Rolls of Scotland_ (Edinburgh, 1878-1901). _The Kingis + Quair_ was first printed in the _Poetical Remains of James the First_, + edited by William Tytler (1783). Later editions are Morison's reprint + (Perth, 1786); J. Sibbald's, in his _Chronicle of Scottish Poetry_ + (1802, vol. i.); Thomson's in 1815 and 1824; G. Chalmers's, in his + _Poetic Remains of some of the Scottish Kings_ (1824); Rogers's + _Poetical Remains of King James the First_ (1873); Skeat's edition + published by the Scottish Text Society (1884). An attempt has been + made to dispute James's authorship of the poem, but the arguments + elaborated by J. T. T. Brown (_The Authorship of the Kingis Quair_, + Glasgow, 1896) have been convincingly answered by Jusserand in his + _Jacques I^{er} d'Écosse fut-il poète? Étude sur l'authenticité du + cahier du roi_ (Paris, 1897, reprinted from the _Revue historique_, + vol. lxiv.). See also the full correspondence in the _Athenaeum_ + (July-Aug. 1896 and Dec. 1899); W. A. Neilson, _Origins and Sources of + the Court of Love_ (Boston, 1899) pp. 152 &c., 235 &c.; and Gregory + Smith, _Transition Period_ (1900), pp. 40, 41. + + + + +JAMES II. (1430-1460), king of Scotland, the only surviving son of James +I. and his wife, Jane, daughter of John Beaufort, earl of Somerset, was +born on the 16th of October 1430. Crowned king at Holyrood in March +1437, shortly after the murder of his father, he was at first under the +guardianship of his mother, while Archibald, 5th earl of Douglas, was +regent of the kingdom, and considerable power was possessed by Sir +Alexander Livingstone and Sir William Crichton (d. 1454). When about +1439 Queen Jane was married to Sir James Stewart, the knight of Lorne, +Livingstone obtained the custody of the young king, whose minority was +marked by fierce hostility between the Douglases and the Crichtons, with +Livingstone first on one side and then on the other. About 1443 the +royal cause was espoused by William, 8th earl of Douglas, who attacked +Crichton in the king's name, and civil war lasted until about 1446. In +July 1449 James was married to Mary (d. 1463), daughter of Arnold, duke +of Gelderland, and undertook the government himself; and almost +immediately Livingstone was arrested, but Douglas retained the royal +favour for a few months more. In 1452, however, this powerful earl was +invited to Stirling by the king, and, charged with treachery, was +stabbed by James and then killed by the attendants. Civil war broke out +at once between James and the Douglases, whose lands were ravaged; but +after the Scots parliament had exonerated the king, James, the new earl +of Douglas, made his submission. Early in 1455 this struggle was +renewed. Marching against the rebels James gained several victories, +after which Douglas was attainted and his lands forfeited. Fortified by +this success and assured of the support of the parliament and of the +great nobles, James, acting as an absolute king, could view without +alarm the war which had broken out with England. After two expeditions +across the borders, a truce was made in July 1457, and the king employed +the period of peace in strengthening his authority in the Highlands. +During the Wars of the Roses he showed his sympathy with the Lancastrian +party after the defeat of Henry VI. at Northampton by attacking the +English possessions to the south of Scotland. It was while conducting +the siege of Roxburgh Castle that James was killed, through the bursting +of a cannon, on the 3rd of August 1460. He left three sons, his +successor, James III., Alexander Stewart, duke of Albany, and John +Stewart, earl of Mar (d. 1479); and two daughters. James, who is +sometimes called "Fiery Face," was a vigorous and popular prince, and, +although not a scholar like his father, showed interest in education. +His reign is a period of some importance in the legislative history of +Scotland, as measures were passed with regard to the tenure of land, the +reformation of the coinage, and the protection of the poor, while the +organization for the administration of justice was greatly improved. + + + + +JAMES III. (1451-1488), king of Scotland, eldest son of James II., was +born on the 10th of July 1451. Becoming king in 1460 he was crowned at +Kelso. After the death of his mother in 1463, and of her principal +supporter, James Kennedy, bishop of St Andrews, two years later, the +person of the young king, and with it the chief authority in the +kingdom, were seized by Sir Alexander Boyd and his brother Lord Boyd, +while the latter's son, Thomas, was created earl of Arran and married to +the king's sister, Mary. In July 1469 James himself was married to +Margaret (d. 1486), daughter of Christian I., king of Denmark and +Norway, but before the wedding the Boyds had lost their power. Having +undertaken the government in person, the king received the submission of +the powerful earl of Ross, and strengthened his authority in other ways. +But his preference for a sedentary and not for an active life and his +increasing attachment to favourites of humble birth diminished his +popularity, and he had some differences with his parliament. About 1479, +probably with reason both suspicious and jealous, James arrested his +brothers, Alexander, duke of Albany, and John, earl of Mar; Mar met his +death in a mysterious fashion at Craigmillar, but Albany escaped to +France and then visited England, where in 1482 Edward IV. recognized him +as king of Scotland by the gift of the king of England. War broke out +with England, but James, made a prisoner by his nobles, was unable to +prevent Albany and his ally, Richard, duke of Gloucester (afterwards +Richard III.), from taking Berwick and marching to Edinburgh. Peace with +Albany followed, but soon afterwards the duke was again in +communication with Edward, and was condemned by the parliament after +the death of the English king in April 1483. Albany's death in France in +1485 did not end the king's troubles. His policy of living at peace with +England and of arranging marriages between the members of the royal +families of the two countries did not commend itself to the turbulent +section of his nobles; his artistic tastes and lavish expenditure added +to the discontent, and a rebellion broke out. Fleeing into the north of +his kingdom James collected an army and came to terms with his foes; but +the rebels, having seized the person of the king's eldest son, +afterwards James IV., renewed the struggle. The rival armies met at the +Sauchieburn near Bannockburn, and James soon fled. Reaching Beaton's +Mill he revealed his identity, and, according to the popular story, was +killed on the 11th of June 1488 by a soldier in the guise of a priest +who had been called in to shrive him. He left three sons--his successor, +James IV.; James Stewart, duke of Ross, afterwards archbishop of St +Andrews, and John Stewart, earl of Mar. James was a cultured prince with +a taste for music and architecture, but was a weak and incapable king. +His character is thus described by a chronicler: "He was ane man that +loved solitude, and desired nevir to hear of warre, bot delighted more +in musick and policie and building nor he did in the government of the +realme." + + + + +JAMES IV. (1473-1513), king of Scotland, eldest son of James III., was +born on the 17th of March 1473. He was nominally the leader of the +rebels who defeated the troops of James III. at the Sauchieburn in June +1488, and became king when his father was killed. As he adopted an +entirely different policy with the nobles from that of his father, and, +moreover, showed great affability towards the lower class of his +subjects, among whom he delighted to wander incognito, few if any of the +kings of Scotland have won such general popularity, or passed a reign so +untroubled by intestine strife. Crowned at Scone a few days after his +accession, James began at once to take an active part in the business of +government. A slight insurrection was easily suppressed, and a plot +formed by some nobles to hand him over to the English king, Henry VII., +came to nothing. In spite of this proceeding Henry wished to live at +peace with his northern neighbour, and soon contemplated marrying his +daughter to James, but the Scottish king was not equally pacific. When, +in 1495, Perkin Warbeck, pretending to be the duke of York, Edward IV.'s +younger son, came to Scotland, James bestowed upon him both an income +and a bride, and prepared to invade England in his interests. For +various reasons the war was confined to a few border forays. After +Warbeck left Scotland in 1497, the Spanish ambassador negotiated a +peace, and in 1502 a marriage was definitely arranged between James and +Henry's daughter Margaret (1489-1541). The wedding took place at +Holyrood in August 1503, and it was this union which led to the +accession of the Stewart dynasty to the English throne. + +About the same time James crushed a rebellion in the western isles, into +which he had previously led expeditions, and parliament took measures to +strengthen the royal authority therein. At this date too, or a little +earlier, the king of Scotland began to treat as an equal with the +powerful princes of Europe, Maximilian I., Louis XII. and others; +sending assistance to his uncle Hans, king of Denmark, and receiving +special marks of favour from Pope Julius II., anxious to obtain his +support. But his position was weakened when Henry VIII. followed Henry +VII. on the English throne in 1509. Causes of quarrel already existed, +and other causes, both public and private, soon arose between the two +kings; sea-fights took place between their ships, while war was brought +nearer by the treaty of alliance which James concluded with Louis XII. +in 1512. Henry made a vain effort to prevent, or to postpone, the +outbreak of hostilities; but urged on by his French ally and his queen, +James declared for war, in spite of the counsels of some of his +advisers, and (it is said) of the warning of an apparition. Gathering a +large and well-armed force, he took Norham and other castles in August +1513, spending some time at Ford Castle, where, according to report, he +was engaged in an amorous intrigue with the wife of its owner. Then he +moved out to fight the advancing English army under Thomas Howard, earl +of Surrey. The battle, which took place at Flodden, or more correctly, +at the foot of Brankston Hill, on Friday the 9th of September 1513, is +among the most famous and disastrous, if not among the most momentous, +in the history of Scotland. Having led his troops from their position of +vantage, the king himself was killed while fighting on foot, together +with nearly all his nobles; there was no foundation for the rumour that +he had escaped from the carnage. He left one legitimate child, his +successor James V., but as his gallantries were numerous he had many +illegitimate children, among them (by Marion Boyd) Alexander Stewart, +archbishop of St Andrews and chancellor of Scotland, who was killed at +Flodden, and (by Janet Kennedy) James Stewart, earl of Moray (d. 1544). +One of his other mistresses was Margaret Drummond (d. 1501). + +James appears to have been a brave and generous man, and a wise and +energetic king. According to one account, he was possessed of +considerable learning; during his reign the Scottish court attained some +degree of refinement, and Scotland counted in European politics as she +had never done before. Literature flourished under the royal patronage, +education was encouraged, and the material condition of the country +improved enormously. Prominent both as an administrator and as a +lawgiver, the king by his vigorous rule did much to destroy the +tendencies to independence which existed in the Highlands and Islands; +but, on the other hand, his rash conduct at Flodden brought much misery +upon his kingdom. He was specially interested in his navy. The +tournaments which took place under his auspices were worthy of the best +days of chivalry in France and England. James shared to the full in the +superstitions of the age which was quickly passing away. He is said to +have worn an iron belt as penance for his share in his father's death; +and by his frequent visits to shrines, and his benefactions to religious +foundations, he won a reputation for piety. + + + + +JAMES V. (1512-1542), king of Scotland, son of James IV., was born at +Linlithgow on the 10th of April 1512, and became king when his father +was killed at Flodden in 1513. The regency was at first vested in his +mother, but after Queen Margaret's second marriage, with Archibald +Douglas, 6th earl of Angus, in August 1514, it was transferred by the +estates to John Stewart, duke of Albany. Henceforward the minority of +James was disturbed by constant quarrels between a faction, generally +favourable to England, under Angus, and the partisans of France under +Albany; while the queen-mother and the nobles struggled to gain and to +regain possession of the king's person. The English had not followed up +their victory at Flodden, although there were as usual forays on the +borders, but Henry VIII. was watching affairs in Scotland with an +observant eye, and other European sovereigns were not indifferent to the +possibility of a Scotch alliance. In 1524, when Albany had retired to +France, the parliament declared that James was fit to govern, but that +he must be advised by his mother and a council. This "erection" of James +as king was mainly due to the efforts of Henry VIII. In 1526 Angus +obtained control of the king, and kept him in close confinement until +1528, when James, escaping from Edinburgh to Stirling, put vigorous +measures in execution against the earl, and compelled him to flee to +England. In 1529 and 1530 the king made a strong effort to suppress his +turbulent vassals in the south of Scotland; and after several raids and +counter-raids negotiations for peace with England were begun, and in May +1534 a treaty was signed. At this time, as on previous occasions, Henry +VIII. wished James to marry his daughter Mary, while other ladies had +been suggested by the emperor Charles V.; but the Scottish king, +preferring a French bride, visited France, and in January 1537 was +married at Paris to Madeleine, daughter of King Francis I. Madeleine +died soon after her arrival in Scotland, and in 1538 James made a much +more important marriage, being united to Mary (1515-1560), daughter of +Claude, duke of Guise, and widow of Louis of Orleans, duke of +Longueville. It was this connexion, probably, which finally induced +James to forsake his vacillating foreign policy, and to range himself +definitely among the enemies of England. In 1536 he had refused to meet +Henry VIII. at York, and in the following year had received the gift of +a cap and sword from Pope Paul III., thus renouncing the friendship of +his uncle. Two plots to murder the king were now discovered, and James +also foiled the attempts of Henry VIII. to kidnap him. Although in 1540 +the English king made another attempt to win the support, or at least +the neutrality, of James for his religious policy, the relations between +the two countries became very unfriendly, and in 1542 Henry sent an army +to invade Scotland. James was not slow to make reprisals, but his nobles +were angry or indifferent, and on the 25th of November 1542 his forces +were easily scattered at the rout of Solway Moss. This blow preyed upon +the king's mind, and on the 14th of December he died at Falkland, having +just heard of the birth of his daughter. His two sons had died in +infancy, and his successor was his only legitimate child, Mary. He left +several bastards, among them James Stewart, earl of Murray (the regent +Murray), Lord John Stewart (1531-1563) prior of Coldingham, and Lord +Robert Stewart, earl of Orkney (d. 1592). + +Although possessing a weak constitution, which was further impaired by +his irregular manner of life, James showed great vigour and independence +as a sovereign, both in withstanding the machinations of his uncle, +Henry VIII., and in opposing the influence of the nobles. The +persecutions to which heretics were exposed during this reign were due +mainly to the excessive influence exercised by the ecclesiastics, +especially by David Beaton, archbishop of St Andrews. The king's habit +of mingling with the peasantry secured for him a large amount of +popularity, and probably led many to ascribe to him the authorship of +poems describing scenes in peasant life, _Christis Kirk on the Grene_, +_The Gaberlunzie Man_ and _The Jolly Beggar_. There is no proof that he +was the author of any of these poems, but from expressions in the poems +of Sir David Lindsay, who was on terms of intimacy with him, it appears +that occasionally he wrote verses. + + + + +JAMES I., the Conqueror (1208-1276), king of Aragon, son of Peter II., +king of Aragon, and of Mary of Montpellier, whose mother was Eudoxia +Comnena, daughter of the emperor Manuel, was born at Montpellier on the +2nd of February 1208. His father, a man of immoral life, was with +difficulty persuaded to cohabit with his wife. He endeavoured to +repudiate her, and she fled to Rome, where she died in April 1213. +Peter, whose possessions in Provence entangled him in the wars between +the Albigenses and Simon of Montfort, endeavoured to placate the +northern crusaders by arranging a marriage between his son James and +Simon's daughter. In 1211 the boy was entrusted to Montfort's care to be +educated, but the aggressions of the crusaders on the princes of the +south forced Peter to take up arms against them, and he was slain at +Muret on the 12th of September 1213. Montfort would willingly have used +James as a means of extending his own power. The Aragonese and Catalans, +however, appealed to the pope, who forced Montfort to surrender him in +May or June 1214. James was now entrusted to the care of Guillen de +Monredon, the head of the Templars in Spain and Provence. The kingdom +was given over to confusion till in 1216 the Templars and some of the +more loyal nobles brought the young king to Saragossa. At the age of +thirteen he was married to Leonora, daughter of Alphonso VIII. of +Castile, whom he divorced later on the ground of consanguinity. A son +born of the marriage, Alphonso, was recognized as legitimate, but died +before his father, childless. It was only by slow steps that the royal +authority was asserted, but the young king, who was of gigantic stature +and immense strength, was also astute and patient. By 1228 he had so far +brought his vassals to obedience, that he was able to undertake the +conquest of the Balearic Islands, which he achieved within four years. +At the same time he endeavoured to bring about a union of Aragon with +Navarre, by a contract of mutual adoption between himself and the +Navarrese king, Sancho, who was old enough to be his grandfather. The +scheme broke down, and James abstained from a policy of conquest. He +wisely turned to the more feasible course of extending his dominions at +the expense of the decadent Mahommedan princes of Valencia. On the 28th +of September 1238 the town of Valencia surrendered, and the whole +territory was conquered in the ensuing years. Like all the princes of +his house, James took part in the politics of southern France. He +endeavoured to form a southern state on both sides of the Pyrenees, +which should counterbalance the power of France north of the Loire. Here +also his policy failed against physical, social and political obstacles. +As in the case of Navarre, he was too wise to launch into perilous +adventures. By the Treaty of Corbeil, with Louis IX., signed the 11th of +May 1258, he frankly withdrew from conflict with the French king, and +contented himself with the recognition of his position, and the +surrender of antiquated French claims to the overlordship of Catalonia. +During the remaining twenty years of his life, James was much concerned +in warring with the Moors in Murcia, not on his own account, but on +behalf of his son-in-law Alphonso the Wise of Castile. As a legislator +and organizer he occupies a high place among the Spanish kings. He would +probably have been more successful but for the confusion caused by the +disputes in his own household. James, though orthodox and pious, had an +ample share of moral laxity. After repudiating Leonora of Castile he +married Yolande (in Spanish Violante) daughter of Andrew II. of Hungary, +who had a considerable influence over him. But she could not prevent him +from continuing a long series of intrigues. The favour he showed his +bastards led to protest from the nobles, and to conflicts between his +sons legitimate and illegitimate. When one of the latter, Fernan +Sanchez, who had behaved with gross ingratitude and treason to his +father, was slain by the legitimate son Pedro, the old king recorded his +grim satisfaction. At the close of his life King James divided his +states between his sons by Yolande of Hungary, Pedro and James, leaving +the Spanish possessions on the mainland to the first, the Balearic +Islands and the lordship of Montpellier to the second--a division which +inevitably produced fratricidal conflicts. The king fell very ill at +Alcira, and resigned his crown, intending to retire to the monastery of +Poblet, but died at Valencia on the 27th of July 1276. + + King James was the author of a chronicle of his own life, written or + dictated apparently at different times, which is a very fine example + of autobiographical literature. A translation into English by J. + Forster, with notes by Don Pascual de Gayangos, was published in + London in 1883. See also _James I. of Aragon_, by F. Darwin Swift + (Clarendon Press, 1894), in which are many references to authorities. + + + + +JAMES II. (c. 1260-1327), king of Aragon, grandson of James I., and son +of Peter III. by his marriage with Constance, daughter of Manfred of +Beneventum, was left in 1285 as king of Sicily by his father. In 1291, +on the death of his elder brother, Alphonso, to whom Aragon had fallen, +he resigned Sicily and endeavoured to arrange the quarrel between his +own family and the Angevine House, by marriage with Blanca, daughter of +Charles of Anjou, king of Naples. + + + + +JAMES II. (1243-1311), king of Majorca, inherited the Balearic Islands +from his father James I. of Aragon. He was engaged in constant conflict +with his brother Pedro III. of Aragon, and in alliance with the French +king against his own kin. + + + + +JAMES III. (1315-1349), king of Majorca, grandson of James II., was +driven out of his little state and finally murdered by his cousin Pedro +IV. of Aragon, who definitely reannexed the Balearic Islands to the +crown. + + + + +JAMES (JAMES FRANCIS EDWARD STUART) (1688-1766), prince of Wales, known +to the Jacobites as James III. and to the Hanoverian party as the Old +Pretender, the son and heir of James II. of England, was born in St +James's Palace, London, on the 10th of June 1688. The scandalous story +that he was a supposititious child, started and spread abroad by +interested politicians at the time of his birth, has been completely +disproved, and most contemporary writers allude to his striking family +likeness to the Royal Stuarts. Shortly before the flight of the king to +Sheerness, the infant prince together with his mother was sent to +France, and afterwards he continued to reside with his father at the +court of St Germain. On the death of his father, on the 16th of +September 1701, he was immediately proclaimed king by Louis XIV. of +France, but a fantastic attempt to perform a similar ceremony in London +so roused the anger of the populace that the mock pursuivants barely +escaped with their lives. A bill of attainder against him received the +royal assent a few days before the death of William III. in 1702, and +the Princess Anne, half-sister of the Pretender, succeeded William on +the throne. An influential party still, however, continued to adhere to +the Jacobite cause; but an expedition from Dunkirk planned in favour of +James in the spring of 1708 failed of success, although the French ships +under the comte de Fourbin, with James himself on board, reached the +Firth of Forth in safety. At the Peace of Utrecht James withdrew from +French territory to Bar-le-Duc in Lorraine. A rebellion in the Highlands +of Scotland was inaugurated in September 1715 by the raising of the +standard on the braes of Mar, and by the solemn proclamation of James +Stuart, "the chevalier of St George," in the midst of the assembled +clans, but its progress was arrested in November by the indecisive +battle of Sheriffmuir and by the surrender at Preston. Unaware of the +gloomy nature of his prospects, the chevalier landed in December 1715 at +Peterhead, and advanced as far south as Scone, accompanied by a small +force under the earl of Mar; but on learning of the approach of the duke +of Argyll, he retreated to Montrose, where the Highlanders dispersed to +the mountains, and he embarked again for France. A Spanish expedition +sent out in his behalf in 1719, under the direction of Alberoni, was +scattered by a tempest, only two frigates reaching the appointed +rendezvous in the island of Lewis. + +In 1718 James had become affianced to the young princess Maria +Clementina Sobieski, grand-daughter of the warrior king of Poland, John +Sobieski. The intended marriage was forbidden by the emperor, who in +consequence kept the princess and her mother in honourable confinement +at Innsbruck in Tirol. An attempt to abduct the princess by means of a +ruse contrived by a zealous Jacobite gentleman, Charles Wogan, proved +successful; Clementina reached Italy in safety, and she and James were +ultimately married at Montefiascone on the 1st of September 1719. James +and Clementina were now invited to reside in Rome at the special request +of Pope Clement XI., who openly acknowledged their titles of British +King and Queen, gave them a papal guard of troops, presented them with a +villa at Albano and a palace (the Palazzo Muti in the Piazza dei Santi +Apostoli) in the city, and also made them an annual allowance of 12,000 +crowns out of the papal treasury. At the Palazzo Muti, which remained +the chief centre of Jacobite intriguing, were born James's two sons, +Charles Edward (the Young Pretender) and Henry Benedict Stuart. James's +married life proved turbulent and unhappy, a circumstance that was +principally due to the hot temper and jealous nature of Clementina, who +soon after Henry's birth in 1725 left her husband and spent over two +years in a Roman convent. At length a reconciliation was effected, which +Clementina did not long survive, for she died at the early age of 32 in +February 1735. Full regal honours were paid to the Stuart queen at her +funeral, and the splendid but tasteless monument by Pietro Bracchi +(1700-1773) in St Peter's was erected to her memory by order of Pope +Benedict XIV. + +His wife's death seems to have affected James's health and spirits +greatly, and he now began to grow feeble and indifferent, so that the +political adherents of the Stuarts were gradually led to fix their hopes +upon the two young princes rather than upon their father. Travellers to +Rome at this period note that James appeared seldom in public, and that +much of his time was given up to religious exercises; he was _dévot à +l'excès_, so Charles de Brosses, an unprejudiced Frenchman, informs us. +It was with great reluctance that James allowed his elder son to leave +Italy for France in 1744; nevertheless in the following year, he +permitted Henry to follow his brother's example, but with the news of +Culloden he evidently came to regard his cause as definitely lost. The +estrangement from his elder and favourite son, which arose over Henry's +adoption of an ecclesiastical career, so embittered his last years that +he sank into a moping invalid and rarely left his chamber. With the +crushing failure of the "Forty-five" and his quarrel with his heir, the +once-dreaded James soon became a mere cipher in British politics, and +his death at Rome on the 2nd of January 1766 passed almost unnoticed in +London. He was buried with regal pomp in St Peter's, where Canova's +famous monument, erected by Pius VII. in 1819, commemorates him and his +two sons. As to James's personal character, there is abundant evidence +to show that he was grave, high-principled, industrious, abstemious and +dignified, and that the unflattering portrait drawn of him by Thackeray +in _Esmond_ is utterly at variance with historical facts. Although a +fervent Roman Catholic, he was far more reasonable and liberal in his +religious views than his father, as many extant letters testify. + + See Earl Stanhope, _History of England and Decline of the Last + Stuarts_ (1853); _Calendar of the Stuart Papers at Windsor Castle_; J. + H. Jesse, _Memories of the Pretenders and their Adherents_ (1845); Dr + John Doran, _"Mann" and Manners at the Court of Florence_ (1876); + _Relazione della morte di Giacomo III., Rè d'Inghilterra_; and Charles + de Brosses, _Lettres sur l'Italie_ (1885). (H. M. V.) + + + + +JAMES, DAVID (1839-1893), English actor, was born in London, his real +name being Belasco. He began his stage career at an early age, and after +1863 gradually made his way in humorous parts. His creation, in 1875, of +the part of Perkyn Middlewick in Our Boys made him famous as a comedian, +the performance obtaining for the piece a then unprecedented run from +the 16th of January 1875 till the 18th of April 1879. In 1885 he had +another notable success as Blueskin in _Little Jack Sheppard_ at the +Gaiety Theatre, his principal associates being Fred Leslie and Nellie +Farren. His song in this burlesque, "Botany Bay," became widely popular. +In the part of John Dory in _Wild Oats_ he again made a great hit at the +Criterion Theatre in 1886; and among his other most successful +impersonations were Simon Ingot in _David Garrick_, Tweedie in +_Tweedie's Rights_, Macclesfield in _The Guv'nor_, and Eccles in +_Caste_. His unctuous humour and unfailing spirits made him a great +favourite with the public. He died on the 2nd of October 1893. + + + + +JAMES, GEORGE PAYNE RAINSFORD (1799-1860), English novelist, son of +Pinkstan James, physician, was born in George Street, Hanover Square, +London, on the 9th of August 1799. He was educated at a private school +at Putney, and afterwards in France. He began to write early, and had, +according to his own account, composed the stories afterwards published +as _A String of Pearls_ before he was seventeen. As a contributor to +newspapers and magazines, he came under the notice of Washington Irving, +who encouraged him to produce his _Life of Edward the Black Prince_ +(1822). _Richelieu_ was finished in 1825, and was well thought of by Sir +Walter Scott (who apparently saw it in manuscript), but was not brought +out till 1829. Perhaps Irving and Scott, from their natural amiability, +were rather dangerous advisers for a writer so inclined by nature to +abundant production as James. But he took up historical romance writing +at a lucky moment. Scott had firmly established the popularity of the +style, and James in England, like Dumas in France, reaped the reward of +their master's labours as well as of their own. For thirty years the +author of _Richelieu_ continued to pour out novels of the same kind +though of varying merit. His works in prose fiction, verse narrative, +and history of an easy kind are said to number over a hundred, most of +them being three-volume novels of the usual length. Sixty-seven are +catalogued in the British Museum. The best examples of his style are +perhaps _Richelieu_ (1829); _Philip Augustus_ (1831); _Henry Masterton_, +probably the best of all (1832); _Mary of Burgundy_ (1833); _Darnley_ +(1839); _Corse de Léon_ (1841); _The Smuggler_ (1845). His poetry does +not require special mention, nor does his history, though for a short +time during the reign of William IV. he held the office of +historiographer royal. After writing copiously for about twenty years, +James in 1850 went to America as British Consul for Massachusetts. He +was consul at Richmond, Virginia, from 1852 to 1856, when he was +appointed to a similar post at Venice, where he died on the 9th of June +1860. + +James has been compared to Dumas, and the comparison holds good in +respect of kind, though by no means in respect of merit. Both had a +certain gift of separating from the picturesque parts of history what +could without much difficulty be worked up into picturesque fiction, and +both were possessed of a ready pen. Here, however, the likeness ends. Of +purely literary talent James had little. His plots are poor, his +descriptions weak, his dialogue often below even a fair average, and he +was deplorably prone to repeat himself. The "two cavaliers" who in one +form or another open most of his books have passed into a proverb, and +Thackeray's good-natured but fatal parody of _Barbazure_ is likely to +outlast _Richelieu_ and _Darnley_ by many a year. Nevertheless, though +James cannot be allowed any very high rank among novelists, he had a +genuine narrative gift, and, though his very best books fall far below +_Les trois mousquetaires_ and _La reine Margot_, there is a certain even +level of interest to be found in all of them. James never resorted to +illegitimate methods to attract readers, and deserves such credit as may +be due to a purveyor of amusement who never caters for the less +creditable tastes of his guests. + + His best novels were published in a revised form in 21 volumes + (1844-1849). + + + + +JAMES, HENRY (1843- ), American author, was born in New York on the +15th of April 1843. His father was Henry James (1811-1882), a +theological writer of great originality, from whom both he and his +brother Professor William James derived their psychological subtlety and +their idiomatic, picturesque English. Most of Henry's boyhood was spent +in Europe, where he studied under tutors in England, France and +Switzerland. In 1860 he returned to America, and began reading law at +Harvard, only to find speedily that literature, not law, was what he +most cared for. His earliest short tale, "The Story of a Year," appeared +in 1865, in the _Atlantic Monthly_, and frequent stories and sketches +followed. In 1869 he again went to Europe, where he subsequently made +his home, for the most part living in London, or at Rye in Sussex. Among +his specially noteworthy works are the following: _Watch and Ward_ +(1871); _Roderick Hudson_ (1875); _The American_ (1877); _Daisy Miller_ +(1878); _French Poets and Novelists_ (1878); _A Life of Hawthorne_ +(1879); _The Portrait of a Lady_ (1881); _Portraits of Places_ (1884); +_The Bostonians_ (1886); _Partial Portraits_ (1888); _The Tragic Muse_ +(1890); _Essays in London_ (1893); _The Two Magics_ (1898); _The Awkward +Age_ (1898); _The Wings of the Dove_ (1902); _The Ambassadors_ (1903); +_The Golden Bowl_ (1904); _English Hours_ (1905); _The American Scene_ +(1907); _The High Bid_ (1909); _Italian Hours_ (1909). + +As a novelist, Henry James is a modern of the moderns both in subject +matter and in method. He is entirely loyal to contemporary life and +reverentially exact in his transcription of the phase. His characters +are for the most part people of the world who conceive of life as a fine +art and have the leisure to carry out their theories. Rarely are they at +close quarters with any ugly practical task. They are subtle and complex +with the subtlety and the complexity that come from conscious +preoccupation with themselves. They are specialists in conduct and past +masters in casuistry, and are full of variations and shadows of turning. +Moreover, they are finely expressive of _milieu_; each belongs +unmistakably to his class and his race; each is true to inherited moral +traditions and delicately illustrative of some social code. To reveal +the power and the tragedy of life through so many minutely limiting and +apparently artificial conditions, and by means of characters who are +somewhat self-conscious and are apt to make of life only a pleasant +pastime, might well seem an impossible task. Yet it is precisely in this +that Henry James is pre-eminently successful. The essentially human is +what he really cares for, however much he may at times seem preoccupied +with the _technique_ of his art or with the mask of conventions through +which he makes the essentially human reveal itself. Nor has "the vista +of the spiritual been denied him." No more poignant spiritual tragedy +has been recounted in recent fiction than the story of Isabel Archer in +_The Portrait of a Lady_. His method, too, is as modern as his subject +matter. He early fell in love with the "point of view," and the good +and the bad qualities of his work all follow from this literary passion. +He is a very sensitive impressionist, with a technique that can fix the +most elusive phase of character and render the most baffling surface. +The skill is unending with which he places his characters in such +relations and under such lights that they flash out in due succession +their continuously varying facets. At times he may seem to forget that a +character is something incalculably more than the sum of all its phases; +and then his characters tend to have their existence, as Positivists +expect to have their immortality, simply and solely in the minds of +other people. But when his method is at its best, the delicate phases of +character that he transcribes coalesce perfectly into clearly defined +and suggestive images of living, acting men and women. Doubtless, there +is a certain initiation necessary for the enjoyment of Mr James. He +presupposes a cosmopolitan outlook, a certain interest in art and in +social artifice, and no little abstract curiosity about the workings of +the human mechanism. But for speculative readers, for readers who care +for art in life as well as for life in art, and for readers above all +who want to encounter and comprehend a great variety of very modern and +finely modulated characters, Mr James holds a place of his own, +unrivalled as an interpreter of the world of to-day. + + For a list of the short stories of Mr Henry James, collections of them + in volume form, and other works, see bibliographies by F. A. King, in + _The Novels of Henry James_, by Elisabeth L. Cary (New York and + London, 1905), and by Le Roy Phillips, _A Bibliography of the Writings + of Henry James_ (Boston, Mass., 1906). In 1909 an _édition de luxe_ of + Henry James's novels was published in 24 volumes. + + + + +JAMES, JOHN ANGELL (1785-1859), English Nonconformist divine, was born +at Blandford, Dorsetshire, on the 6th of June 1785. At the close of his +seven years' apprenticeship to a linen-draper at Poole he decided to +become a preacher, and in 1802 he went to David Bogue's training +institution at Gosport. A year and a half later, on a visit to +Birmingham, his preaching was so highly esteemed by the congregation of +Carr's Lane Independent chapel that they invited him to exercise his +ministry amongst them; he settled there in 1805, and was ordained in May +1806. For several years his success as a preacher was comparatively +small; but he jumped into popularity about 1814, and began to attract +large crowds wherever he officiated. At the same time his religious +writings, the best known of which are _The Anxious Inquirer_ and _An +Earnest Ministry_, acquired a wide circulation. James was a typical +Congregational preacher of the early 19th century, massive and elaborate +rather than original. His preaching displayed little or nothing of +Calvinism, the earlier severity of which had been modified in Birmingham +by Edward Williams, one of his predecessors. He was one of the founders +of the Evangelical Alliance and of the Congregational Union of England +and Wales. Municipal interests appealed strongly to him, and he was also +for many years chairman of Spring Hill (afterwards Mansfield) College. +He died at Birmingham on the 1st of October 1859. + + A collected edition of James's works appeared in 1860-1864. See _A + Review of the Life and Character of J. Angell James_ (1860), by J. + Campbell, and _Life and Letters of J. A. James_ (1861), edited by his + successor, R. W. Dale, who also contributed a sketch of his + predecessor to _Pulpit Memorials_ (1878). + + + + +JAMES, THOMAS (c. 1573-1629), English librarian, was born at Newport, +Isle of Wight. He was educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford, +and became a fellow of New College in 1593. His wide knowledge of books, +together with his skill in deciphering manuscripts and detecting +literary forgeries, secured him in 1602 the post of librarian to the +library founded in that year by Sir Thomas Bodley at Oxford. At the same +time he was made rector of St Aldate's, Oxford. In 1605 he compiled a +classified catalogue of the books in the Bodleian Library, but in 1620 +substituted for it an alphabetical catalogue. The arrangement in 1610, +whereby the Stationers' Company undertook to supply the Bodleian Library +with every book published, was James's suggestion. Ill health compelled +him to resign his post in 1620, and he died at Oxford in August 1629. + + + + +JAMES, WILLIAM (d. 1827), English naval historian, author of the _Naval +History of Great Britain from the Declaration of War by France in 1793 +to the Accession of George IV._, practised as a proctor in the admiralty +court of Jamaica between 1801 and 1813. He was in the United States when +the war of 1812 broke out, and was detained as a prisoner, but escaped +to Halifax. His literary career began by letters to the _Naval +Chronicle_ over the signature of "Boxer." In 1816 he published _An +Inquiry into the Merits of the Principal Naval Actions between Great +Britain and the United States_. In this pamphlet, which James reprinted +in 1817, enlarged and with a new title, his object was to prove that the +American frigates were stronger than their British opponents nominally +of the same class. In 1819 he began his _Naval History_, which appeared +in five volumes (1822-1824), and was reprinted in six volumes (1826). It +is a monument of painstaking accuracy in all such matters as dates, +names, tonnage, armament and movements of ships, though no attempt is +ever made to show the connexion between the various movements. James +died on the 28th of May 1827 in London, leaving a widow who received a +civil list pension of £100. + + An edition of the _Naval History_ in six volumes, with additions and + notes by Capt. F. Chamier, was published in 1837, and a further one in + 1886. An edition epitomized by R. O'Byrne appeared in 1888, and an + _Index_ by C. G. Toogood was issued by the Navy Records Society in + 1895. + + + + +JAMES, WILLIAM (1842-1910), American philosopher, son of the +Swedenborgian theologian Henry James, and brother of the novelist Henry +James, was born on the 11th of January 1842 at New York City. He +graduated M.D. at Harvard in 1870. Two years after he was appointed a +lecturer at Harvard in anatomy and physiology, and later in psychology +and philosophy. Subsequently he became assistant professor of philosophy +(1880-1885), professor (1885-1889), professor of psychology (1889-1897) +and professor of philosophy (1897-1907). In 1899-1901 he delivered the +Gifford lectures on natural religion at the university of Edinburgh, and +in 1908 the Hibbert lectures at Manchester College, Oxford. With the +appearance of his _Principles of Psychology_ (2 vols., 1890), James at +once stepped into the front rank of psychologists as a leader of the +physical school, a position which he maintained not only by the +brilliance of his analogies but also by the freshness and +unconventionality of his style. In metaphysics he upheld the idealist +position from the empirical standpoint. Beside the _Principles of +Psychology_, which appeared in a shorter form in 1892 (_Psychology_), +his chief works are: _The Will to Believe_ (1897); _Human Immortality_ +(Boston, 1898); _Talks to Teachers_ (1899); _The Varieties of Religious +Experience_ (New York, 1902); _Pragmatism--a New Name for some Old Ways +of Thinking_ (1907); _A Pluralistic Universe_ (1909; Hibbert lectures), +in which, though he still attacked the hypothesis of absolutism, he +admitted it as a legitimate alternative. He received honorary degrees +from Padua (1893), Princeton (1896), Edinburgh (1902), Harvard (1905). +He died on the 27th of August 1910. + + + + +JAMES OF HEREFORD, HENRY JAMES, 1ST BARON (1828- ), English lawyer and +statesman, son of P. T. James, surgeon, was born at Hereford on the 30th +of October 1828, and educated at Cheltenham College. A prizeman of the +Inner Temple, he was called to the bar in 1852 and joined the Oxford +circuit, where he soon came into prominence. In 1867 he was made +"postman" of the court of exchequer, and in 1869 became a Q.C. At the +general election of 1868 he obtained a seat in parliament for Taunton as +a Liberal, by the unseating of Mr Serjeant Cox on a scrutiny in March +1869, and he kept the seat till 1885, when he was returned for Bury. He +attracted attention in parliament by his speeches in 1872 in the debates +on the Judicature Act. In 1873 (September) he was made solicitor-general, +and in November attorney-general, and knighted; and when Gladstone +returned to power in 1880 he resumed his office. He was responsible for +carrying the Corrupt Practices Act of 1883. On Gladstone's conversion to +Home Rule, Sir Henry James parted from him and became one of the most +influential of the Liberal Unionists: Gladstone had offered him the lord +chancellorship in 1886, but he declined it; and the knowledge of the +sacrifice he had made in refusing to follow his old chief in his new +departure lent great weight to his advocacy of the Unionist cause in the +country. He was one of the leading counsel for _The Times_ before the +Parnell Commission, and from 1892 to 1895 was attorney-general to the +prince of Wales. From 1895 to 1902 he was a member of the Unionist +ministry as chancellor for the duchy of Lancaster, and in 1895 he was +made a peer as Baron James of Hereford. In later years he was a prominent +opponent of the Tariff Reform movement, adhering to the section of Free +Trade Unionists. + + + + +JAMES, EPISTLE OF, a book of the New Testament. The superscription (Jas. +i. 1) ascribes it to that pre-eminent "pillar" (Gal. ii. 9) of the +original mother church who later came to be regarded in certain quarters +as the "bishop of bishops" (Epist. of James to Clement, _ap. Clem. Hom._ +Superscription). As such he appears in a position to address an +encyclical to "the twelve tribes of the dispersion"; for the context (i. +18, v. 7 seq.) and literary relation (cf. 1 Pet. i. 1, 3, 23-25) prove +this to be a figure for the entire new people of God, without the +distinction of carnal birth, as Paul had described "the Israel of God" +(Gal. vi. 16), spiritually begotten, like Isaac, by the word received in +faith (Gal. iii. 28 seq., iv. 28; Rom. ix. 6-9, iv. 16-18). This idea of +the spiritually begotten Israel becomes current after 1 Pet., as appears +in John i. 11-13, iii. 3-8; Barn. iv. 6, xiii. 13; 2 Clem. ii. 2, &c. + +The interpretation which takes the expression "the twelve tribes" +literally, and conceives the brother of the Lord as sending an epistle +written in the Greek language throughout the Christian world, but as +addressing Jewish Christians only (so e.g. Sieffert, s.v. "Jacobus im +N.T." in Hauck, _Realencykl._ ed. 1900, vol. viii.), assumes not only +such divisive interference as Paul might justly resent (cf. Gal. ii. +1-10), but involves a strange idea of conditions. Were worldliness, +tongue religion, moral indifference, the distinctive marks of the Jewish +element? Surely the rebukes of James apply to conditions of the whole +Church and not sporadic Jewish-Christian conventicles in the +Greek-speaking world, if any such existed. + +It is at least an open question whether the superscription (connected +with that of Jude) be not a later conjecture prefixed by some compiler +of the catholic epistles, but of the late date implied in our +interpretation of ver. 1 there should be small dispute. Whatever the +currency in classical circles of the epistle as a literary form, it is +irrational to put first in the development of Christian literature a +general epistle, couched in fluent, even rhetorical, Greek, and +afterwards the Pauline letters, which both as to origin and subsequent +circulation were a product of urgent conditions. The order consonant +with history is (1) Paul's "letters" to "the churches of" a province +(Gal. i. 2; 2 Cor. i. 1); (2) the address to "the elect of the +dispersion" in a group of the Pauline provinces (1 Pet. i. 1); (3) the +address to "the twelve tribes of the dispersion" everywhere (Jas. i. 1; +cf. Rev. vii. 2-4). James, like 1 John, is a homily, even more lacking +than 1 John in every epistolary feature, not even supplied with the +customary epistolary farewell. The superscription, if original, compels +us to treat the whole writing as not only late but pseudonymous. If +prefixed by conjecture, to secure recognition and authority for the +book, even this was at first a failure. The earliest trace of any +recognition of it is in Origen (A.D. 230) who refers to it as "said to +be from James" ([Greek: pheromegê hê Iakôbou Epistolê]), seeming thus to +regard ver. 1 as superscription rather than part of the text. Eusebius +(A.D. 325) classifies it among the disputed books, declaring that it is +regarded as spurious, and that not many of the ancients have mentioned +it. Even Jerome (A.D. 390), though personally he accepted it, admits +that it was "said to have been published by another in the name of +James." The Syrian canon of the Peshitta was the first to admit it. + + Modern criticism naturally made the superscription its starting-point, + endeavouring first to explain the contents of the writing on this + theory of authorship, but generally reaching the conclusion that the + two do not agree. Conservatives as a rule avoid the implication of a + direct polemic against Paul in ii. 14-26, which would lay open the + author to the bitter accusations launched against the interlopers of 2 + Cor. x.-xiii., by dating before the Judaistic controversy. Other + critics regard the very language alone as fatal to such a theory of + date, authorship and circle addressed. The contents, ignoring the + conflict of Jew and Gentile, complaining of worldiness and + tongue-religion (cf. 1 John iii. 17 seq. with James ii. 14-16) suggest + a much later date than the death of James (A.D. 62-66). They also + require a different character in the author, if not also a different + circle of readers from those addressed in i. 1. + + The prevalent conditions seem to be those of the Greek church of the + post-apostolic period, characterized by worldiness of life, profession + without practice, and a contentious garrulity of teaching (1 John iii. + 3-10, 18; 1 Tim. i. 6 seq., vi. 3-10; 2 Tim. iii. 1-5, iv. 3 seq.). + The author meets these with the weapons commanded for the purpose in 1 + Tim. vi. 3, but quite in the spirit of one of the "wise men" of the + Hebrew wisdom literature. His gospel is completely denationalized, + humanitarian; but, while equally universalistic, is quite + unsympathetic towards the doctrine and the mysticism of Paul. He has + nothing whatever to say of the incarnation, life, example, suffering + or resurrection of Jesus, and does not interest himself in the + doctrines of Christ's person, which were hotly debated up to this + time. The absence of all mention of Christ (with the single exception + of ii. 1, where there is reason to think the words [Greek: hêmôu Iêsou + Xristou] interpolated) has even led to the theory, ably but + unconvincingly maintained by Spitta, that the writing is a mere recast + of a Jewish moralistic writing like the _Two Ways_. The thoughts are + loosely strung together: yet the following seems to be the general + framework on which the New Testament preacher has collected his + material. + + 1. The problem of evil (i. 1-19a). Outward trials are for our + development through aid of divinely given "wisdom" (2-11). Inward + (moral) trials are not to be imputed to God, the author of all good, + whose purpose is the moral good of his creation (12-19a; cf. 1 John i. + 5). + + 2. The righteousness God intends is defined in the eternal moral law. + It is a product of deeds, not words (i. 19b-27). + + 3. The "royal law" of love is violated by discrimination against the + poor (ii. 1-13); and by professions of faith barren of good works + (14-26). + + 4. The true spirit of wisdom appears not in aspiring to teach, but in + goodness and meekness of life (ch. iii.). Strife and self-exaltation + are fruits of a different spirit, to be resisted and overcome by + humble prayer for more grace (iv. 1-10). + + 5. God's judgment is at hand. The thought condemns censoriousness (iv. + 11 et seq.), presumptuous treatment of life (13-17), and the tyranny + of the rich (v. 1-6). It encourages the believer to patient endurance + to the end without murmuring or imprecations (7-12). It impels the + church to diligence in its work of worship, care and prayer (13-18), + and in the reclamation of the erring (19-20). + + The use made by James of earlier material is as important for + determining the _terminus a quo_ of its own date as the use of it by + later writers for the _terminus ad quem_. Acquaintance with the + evangelic tradition is apparent. It is conceived, however, more in the + Matthaean sense of "commandments to be observed" (Matt. xxviii. 20) + than the Pauline, Markan and Johannine of the drama of the incarnation + and redemption. There is no traceable literary contact with the + synoptic gospels. Acquaintance, however, with some of the Pauline + epistles "must be regarded as incontestably established" (O. Cone, + _Ency. Bibl._ ii. 2323). Besides scattered reminiscences of Romans, 1 + Corinthians and Galatians, enumerated in the article referred to, the + section devoted to a refutation of the doctrine of "justification by + faith apart from works" undeniably presupposes the Pauline + terminology. Had the author been consciously opposing the great + apostle to the Gentiles he would probably have treated the subject + less superficially. What he really opposes is the same ultra-Pauline + moral laxity which Paul himself had found occasion to rebuke among + would-be adherents in Corinth (1 Cor. vi. 12; viii. 1-3, 11, 12; x. 23 + seq., 32 seq.) and which appears still more marked in the pastoral + epistles and 1 John. In rebuking it James unconsciously retracts the + misapplied Pauline principle itself. To suppose that the technical + terminology of Paul, including even his classic example of the faith + of Abraham, could be employed here independently of Rom. ii. 21-23, + iii. 28, iv. 1; Gal. ii. 16, iii. 6, is to pass a judgment which in + every other field of literary criticism would be at once repudiated. + To imagine it current in pre-Pauline Judaism is to misconceive the + spirit of the synagogue.[1] To make James the coiner and Paul the + borrower not only throws back James to a date incompatible with the + other phenomena, but implies a literary polemic tactlessly waged by + Paul against the head of the Jerusalem church. Acquaintance with + Hebrews is only slightly less probable, for James ii. 25 adds an + explication of the case of Rahab also, cited in Heb. xi. 31 along with + Abraham as an example of justification by faith only, to his + correction of the Pauline scriptural argument. The question whether + James is dependent on 1 Peter or conversely is still actively + disputed. As regards the superscription the relation has been defined + above. Dependence on Revelation (A.D. 95) is probable (cf. i. 12 and + ii. 5 with Rev. ii. 9, 10 and v. 9 with Rev. iii. 20), but the + contacts with Clement of Rome (A.D. 95-120) indicate the reverse + relation. James iv. 6 and v. 20 = 1 Clem. xlix. 5 and xxx. 2; but as + both passages are also found in 1 Peter (iv. 8, v. 5), the latter may + be the common source. Clement's further development of the cases of + Abraham and Rahab, however, adding as it does to the demonstration of + James from Scripture of their justification "by works and not by faith + only," that the particular good work which "wrought with the faith" of + Abraham and Rahab to their justification was "hospitality" (1 Clem, + x.-xii.) seems plainly to presuppose James. Priority is more difficult + to establish in the case of Hermas (A.D. 120-140), where the contacts + are undisputed (cf. James iv. 7, 12 with Mand. xii, 5, 6; Sim. ix. + 23).[2] + +The date (A.D. 95-120) implied by the literary contacts of James of +course precludes authorship by the Lord's brother, though this does not +necessarily prove the superscription later still. The question whether +the writing as a whole is pseudonymous, or only the superscription a +mistaken conjecture by the scribe of Jude 1 is of secondary importance. +A date about 100-120 for the substance of the writing is accepted by the +majority of modern scholars and throws real light upon the author's +endeavour. Pfleiderer in pointing out the similarities of James and the +_Shepherd_ of Hermas declares it to be "certain that both writings +presuppose like historical circumstances, and, from a similar point of +view, direct their admonitions to their contemporaries, among whom a lax +worldly-mindedness and unfruitful theological wrangling threatened to +destroy the religious life."[3] Holtzmann has characterized this as "the +right visual angle" for the judgment of the book. Questions as to the +obligation of Mosaism and the relations of Jew and Gentile have utterly +disappeared below the horizon. Neither the attachment to the religious +forms of Judaism, which we are informed was characteristic of James, nor +that personal relation to the Lord which gave him his supreme +distinction are indicated by so much as a single word. Instead of being +written in Aramaic, as it would almost necessarily be if antecedent to +the Pauline epistles, or even in the Semitic style characteristic of the +older and more Palestinian elements of the New Testament we have a Greek +even more fluent than Paul's and metaphors and allusions (i. 17, iii. +1-12) of a type more like Greek rhetoric than anything else in the New +Testament. Were we to judge by the contacts with Hebrews, Clement of +Rome and Hermas and the similarity of situation evidenced in the +last-named, Rome would seem the most natural place of origin. The +history of the epistle's reception into the canon is not opposed to +this; for, once it was attributed to James, Syria would be more likely +to take it up, while the West, more sceptical, if not better informed as +to its origin, held back; just as happened in the case of Hebrews. + +It is the author's conception of the nature of the gospel which mainly +gives us pause in following this pretty general disposition of modern +scholarship. With all the phenomena of vocabulary and style which seem +to justify such conceptions as von Soden's that c. iii. and iv. 11-v. 6 +represent excerpts respectively from the essay of an Alexandrian scribe, +and a triple fragment of Jewish apocalypse, the analysis above given +will be found the exponent of a real logical sequence. We might almost +admit a resemblance in form to the general literary type which Spitta +adduces. The term "wisdom" in particular is used in the special and +technical sense of the "wise men" of Hebrew literature (Matt. xxiii. +34), the sense of "the wisdom of the just" of Luke i. 17. True, the +mystical sense given to the term in one of the sources of Luke, by Paul +and some of the Church fathers, is not present. While the gospel is +pre-eminently the divine gift of "wisdom," "wisdom" is not personified, +but conceived primarily as a system of humanitarian ethics, i. 21-25, +and only secondarily as a spiritual effluence, imparting the regenerate +disposition, the "mind that was in Christ Jesus," iii. 13-18. And yet +for James as well as for Paul Christ is "the wisdom of God." The +difference in conception of the term is similar to that between +Ecclesiasticus and the Wisdom of Solomon. Our author, like Paul, expects +the hearers of the word to be "a kind of first-fruits to God of his +creation." (i. 18 cf. 1 Pet. i. 23), and bids them depend upon the gift +of grace (i. 5, iv. 5 seq.), but for the evils of the world he has no +remedy but the patient endurance of the Christian philosopher (i. 2-18). +For the faithlessness ([Greek: dipsychia] i. 6-8; cf. _Didache_ and +Hermas), worldliness (ii. 1-13) and hollow profession (ii. 14-26) of the +church life of his time, with its "theological wrangling" (iii. 1-12), +his remedy is again the God-given, peaceable spirit of the Christian +philosopher (iii. 13-18), which is the antithesis of the spirit of +self-seeking and censoriousness (iv. 1-12), and which appreciates the +pettiness of earthly life with its sordid gains and its unjust +distribution of wealth (iv. 13-v. 6). This attitude of the Christian +stoic will maintain the individual in his patient waiting for the +expected "coming of the Lord" (v. 7-11); while the church sustains its +official functions of healing and prayer, and reclamation of the erring +(v. 13-20).[4] For this conception of the gospel and of the officially +organized church, our nearest analogy is in Matthew, or rather in the +blocks of precepts of the Lord which after subtraction of the Markan +narrative framework are found to underlie our first gospel. It may be +mere coincidence that the material in Matthew as well as in the +_Didache_ seems to be arranged in five divisions, beginning with a +commendation of the right way, and ending with warnings of the judgment, +while the logical analysis of James yields something similar; but of the +affinity of spirit there can be no doubt. + +The type of ethical thought exemplified in James has been called +Ebionite (Hilgenfeld). It is clearly manifest in the humanitarianism of +Luke also. But with the possible exception of the prohibition of oaths +there is nothing which ought to suggest the epithet. The strong sense of +social wrongs, the impatience with tongue-religion, the utter ignoring +of ceremonialism, the reflection on the value and significance of +"life," are distinctive simply of the "wisdom" writers. Like these our +author holds himself so far aloof from current debate of ceremonial or +doctrine as to escape our principal standards of measurement regarding +place and time. Certain general considerations, however, are fairly +decisive. The prolonged effort, mainly of English scholarship, to +vindicate the superscription, even on the condition of assuming priority +to the Pauline epistles, grows only increasingly hopeless with +increasing knowledge of conditions, linguistic and other, in that early +period. The moralistic conception of the gospel as a "law of liberty," +the very phrase recalling the expression of Barn. ii., "the new law of +Christ, which is without the yoke of constraint," the conception of the +church as primarily an ethical society, its functions already officially +distributed, suggest the period of the _Didache_, Barnabas and Clement +of Rome. Independently of the literary contacts we should judge the +period to be about A.D. 100-120. The connexions with the Pauline +epistles are conclusive for a date later than the death of James; those +with Clement and Hermas are perhaps sufficient to date it as prior to +the former, and suggest Rome as the place of origin. The connexions with +wisdom-literature favour somewhat the Hellenistic culture of Syria, as +represented for example at Antioch. + + The most important commentaries on the epistle are those of Matt. + Schneckenburger (1832), K. G. W. Theile (1833), J. Kern (1838), G. H. + Ewald (1870), C. F. D. Erdmann (1881), H. v. Soden (1898), J. B. Mayor + (1892) and W. Patrick (1906). The pre-Pauline date is championed by B. + Weiss (_Introd._), W. Beyschlag (Meyer's _Commentary_), Th. Zahn + (_Introd._), J. B. Mayor and W. Patrick. J. V. Bartlet (_Ap. Age_, pp. + 217-250) pleads for it, and the view is still common among English + interpreters. F. K. Zimmer (_Z. w. Th._, 1893) showed the priority of + Paul, with many others. A. Hilgenfeld (_Einl._) and A. C. McGiffert + (_Ap. Age_) place it in the period of Domitian; Baur (_Ch. History_), + Schwegler (_Nachap. Zeitalt._), Zeller, Volkmar (_Z. w. Th._), + Hausrath (_Ap. Age_), H. J. Holtzmann (_Einl._), Jülicher (_Einl._), + Usteri (St. _u. Kr._, 1889), W. Brückner (_Chron._), H. v. Soden + (_Handcomm._) and A. Harnack (_Chron._) under Hadrian. A convenient + synopsis of results will be found in J. Moffat, _Historical New + Test._^2 (pp. 576-581), and in the articles _s.v._ "James" in _Encycl. + Bibl._ and the Bible Dictionaries. (B. W. B.) + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [1] Nothing adduced by Lightfoot (_Comm. on Gal._ Exc. "The faith of + Abraham") justifies the unsupported and improbable assertion that the + quotation James ii. 21 seq. "was probably in common use among the + Jews to prove that orthodoxy of doctrine sufficed for salvation" + (Mayor, s.v. "James, Epistle of" in Hasting's _Dict. Bible_, p. 546). + + [2] On the contacts in general see Moffat, _Hist. N.T._^2 p. 578, on + relation to Clem. R. see Bacon, "Doctrine of Faith in Hebrews, James + and Clement of Rome," in _Jour. of Bib. Lit._, 1900, pp. 12-21. + + [3] _Das Urchristenthum_, 868, quoted by Cone, _loc. cit._ + + [4] The logical relation of v. 12 to the context is problematical. + Perhaps it may be accounted for by the order of the compend of + Christian ethics the writer was following. Cf. Matt. v. 34-37 in + relation to Matt. v. 12 (cf. ver. 10) and vi. 19 sqq. (cf. ver. 2, + and iv. 13 seq.). The non-charismatic conception of healing, no + longer the "gift" of some layman in the community (1 Cor. xii. 9 + seq.) but a function of "the elders" (1 Tim. iv. 14), is another + indication of comparatively late date. + + + + +JAMESON, ANNA BROWNELL (1794-1860), British writer, was born in Dublin +on the 17th of May 1794. Her father, Denis Brownell Murphy (d. 1842), a +miniature and enamel painter, removed to England in 1798 with his +family, and eventually settled at Hanwell, near London. At sixteen years +of age Anna became governess in the family of the marquis of Winchester. +In 1821 she was engaged to Robert Jameson. The engagement was broken +off, and Anna Murphy accompanied a young pupil to Italy, writing in a +fictitious character a narrative of what she saw and did. This diary she +gave to a bookseller on condition of receiving a guitar if he secured +any profits. Colburn ultimately published it as _The Diary of an +Ennuyée_ (1826), which attracted much attention. The author was +governess to the children of Mr Littleton, afterwards Lord Hatherton, +from 1821 to 1825, when she married Robert Jameson. The marriage proved +unhappy; when, in 1829, Jameson was appointed puisne judge in the island +of Dominica the couple separated without regret, and Mrs Jameson visited +the Continent again with her father. + +The first work which displayed her powers of original thought was her +_Characteristics of Women_ (1832). These analyses of Shakespeare's +heroines are remarkable for delicacy of critical insight and fineness of +literary touch. They are the result of a penetrating but essentially +feminine mind, applied to the study of individuals of its own sex, +detecting characteristics and defining differences not perceived by the +ordinary critic and entirely overlooked by the general reader. German +literature and art had aroused much interest in England, and Mrs Jameson +paid her first visit to Germany in 1833. The conglomerations of hard +lines, cold colours and pedantic subjects which decorated Munich under +the patronage of King Louis of Bavaria, were new to the world, and Mrs +Jameson's enthusiasm first gave them an English reputation. + +In 1836 Mrs Jameson was summoned to Canada by her husband, who had been +appointed chancellor of the province of Toronto. He failed to meet her +at New York, and she was left to make her way alone at the worst season +of the year to Toronto. After six months' experiment she felt it useless +to prolong a life far from all ties of family happiness and +opportunities of usefulness. Before leaving, she undertook a journey to +the depths of the Indian settlements in Canada; she explored Lake Huron, +and saw much of emigrant and Indian life unknown to travellers, which +she afterwards embodied in her _Winter Studies and Summer Rambles_. She +returned to England in 1838. At this period Mrs Jameson began making +careful notes of the chief private art collections in and near London. +The result appeared in her _Companion to the Private Galleries_ (1842), +followed in the same year by the _Handbook to the Public Galleries_. She +edited the _Memoirs of the Early Italian Painters_ in 1845. In the same +year she visited her friend Ottilie von Goethe. Her friendship with Lady +Byron dates from about this time and lasted for some seven years; it was +brought to an end apparently through Lady Byron's unreasonable temper. A +volume of essays published in 1846 contains one of Mrs Jameson's best +pieces of work, _The House of Titian_. In 1847 she went to Italy with +her niece and subsequent biographer (_Memoirs_, 1878), Geraldine Bate +(Mrs Macpherson), to collect materials for the work on which her +reputation rests--her series of _Sacred and Legendary Art_. The time was +ripe for such contributions to the traveller's library. The _Acta +Sanctorum_ and the _Book of the Golden Legend_ had had their readers, +but no one had ever pointed out the connexion between these tales and +the works of Christian art. The way to these studies had been pointed +out in the preface to Kugler's _Handbook of Italian Painting_ by Sir +Charles Eastlake, who had intended pursuing the subject himself. +Eventually he made over to Mrs Jameson the materials and references he +had collected. She recognized the extent of the ground before her as a +mingled sphere of poetry, history, devotion and art. She infected her +readers with her own enthusiastic admiration; and, in spite of her +slight technical and historical equipment, Mrs. Jameson produced a book +which thoroughly deserved its great success. + +She also took a keen interest in questions affecting the education, +occupations and maintenance of her own sex. Her early essay on _The +Relative Social Position of Mothers and Governesses_ was the work of one +who knew both sides; and in no respect does she more clearly prove the +falseness of the position she describes than in the certainty with which +she predicts its eventual reform. To her we owe the first popular +enunciation of the principle of male and female co-operation in works of +mercy and education. In her later years she took up a succession of +subjects all bearing on the same principles of active benevolence and +the best ways of carrying them into practice. Sisters of charity, +hospitals, penitentiaries, prisons and workhouses all claimed her +interest--all more or less included under those definitions of "the +communion of love and communion of labour" which are inseparably +connected with her memory. To the clear and temperate forms in which she +brought the results of her convictions before her friends in the shape +of private lectures--published as _Sisters of Charity_ (1855) and _The +Communion of Labour_ (1856)--may be traced the source whence later +reformers and philanthropists took counsel and courage. + +Mrs Jameson died on the 17th of March 1860. She left the last of her +_Sacred and Legendary Art_ series in preparation. It was completed, +under the title of _The History of Our Lord in Art_, by Lady Eastlake. + + + + +JAMESON (or JAMESONE), GEORGE (c. 1587-1644), Scottish portrait-painter, +was born at Aberdeen, where his father was architect and a member of the +guild. After studying painting under Rubens at Antwerp, with Vandyck as +a fellow pupil, he returned in 1620 to Aberdeen, where he was married in +1624 and remained at least until 1630, after which he took up his +residence in Edinburgh. He was employed by the magistrates of Edinburgh +to copy several portraits of the Scottish kings for presentation to +Charles I. on his first visit to Scotland in 1633, and the king rewarded +him with a diamond ring from his own finger. This circumstance at once +established Jameson's fame, and he soon found constant employment in +painting the portraits of the Scottish nobility and gentry. He also +painted a portrait of Charles, which he declined to sell to the +magistrates of Aberdeen for the price they offered. He died at Edinburgh +in 1644. + + + + +JAMESON, LEANDER STARR (1853- ), British colonial statesman, son of R. +W. Jameson, a writer to the signet in Edinburgh, was born at Edinburgh +in 1853, and was educated for the medical profession at University +College Hospital, London (M.R.C.S. 1875; M.D. 1877). After acting as +house physician, house surgeon and demonstrator of anatomy, and showing +promise of a successful professional career in London, his health broke +down from overwork in 1878, and he went out to South Africa and settled +down in practice at Kimberley. There he rapidly acquired a great +reputation as a medical man, and, besides numbering President Kruger and +the Matabele chief Lobengula among his patients, came much into contact +with Cecil Rhodes. In 1888 his influence with Lobengula was successfully +exerted to induce that chieftain to grant the concessions to the agents +of Rhodes which led to the formation of the British South Africa +Company; and when the company proceeded to open up Mashonaland, Jameson +abandoned his medical practice and joined the pioneer expedition of +1890. From this time his fortunes were bound up with Rhodes's schemes in +the north. Immediately after the pioneer column had occupied +Mashonaland, Jameson, with F. C. Selous and A. R. Colquhoun, went east +to Manicaland and was instrumental in securing the greater part of that +country, to which Portugal was laying claim, for the Chartered Company. +In 1891 Jameson succeeded Colquhoun as administrator of Rhodesia. The +events connected with his vigorous administration and the wars with the +Matabele are narrated under RHODESIA. At the end of 1894 "Dr Jim" (as he +was familiarly called) came to England and was fêted on all sides; he +was made a C.B., and returned to Africa in the spring of 1895 with +enhanced prestige. On the last day of that year the world was startled +to learn that Jameson, with a force of 600 men, had made a raid into the +Transvaal from Mafeking in support of a projected rising in +Johannesburg, which had been connived at by Rhodes at the Cape (see +RHODES and TRANSVAAL). Jameson's force was compelled to surrender at +Doornkop, receiving a guarantee that the lives of all would be spared; +he and his officers were sent to Pretoria, and, after a short delay, +during which time sections of the Boer populace clamoured for the +execution of Jameson, President Kruger on the surrender of Johannesburg +(January 7) handed them over to the British government for punishment. +They were tried in London under the Foreign Enlistment Act in May 1896, +and Dr Jameson was sentenced to fifteen months' imprisonment at +Holloway. He served a year in prison, and was then released on account +of ill health. He still retained the affections of the white population +of Rhodesia, and subsequently returned there in an unofficial capacity. +He was the constant companion of Rhodes on his journeys up to the end of +his life, and when Rhodes died in May 1902 Jameson was left one of the +executors of his will. In 1903 Jameson came forward as the leader of the +Progressive (British) party in Cape Colony; and that party being +victorious at the general election in January-February 1904, Jameson +formed an administration in which he took the post of prime minister. He +had to face a serious economic crisis and strenuously promoted the +development of the agricultural and pastoral resources of the colony. He +also passed a much needed Redistribution Act, and in the session of 1906 +passed an Amnesty Act restoring the rebel voters to the franchise. +Jameson, as prime minister of Cape Colony, attended the Colonial +conference held in London in 1907. In September of that year the Cape +parliament was dissolved, and as the elections for the legislative +council went in favour of the Bond, Jameson resigned office, 31st of +January 1908 (see CAPE COLONY: _History_). In 1908 he was chosen one of +the delegates from Cape Colony to the intercolonial convention for the +closer union of the South African states, and he took a prominent part +in settling the terms on which union was effected in 1909. It was at +Jameson's suggestion that the Orange River Colony was renamed Orange +Free State Province. + + + + +JAMESON, ROBERT (1774-1854), Scottish naturalist and mineralogist, was +born at Leith on the 11th of July 1774. He became assistant to a surgeon +in his native town; but, having studied natural history under Dr John +Walker in 1792 and 1793, he felt that his true province lay in that +science. He went in 1800 to Freiberg to study for nearly two years under +Werner, and spent two more in continental travel. In 1804 he succeeded +Dr Walker as regius professor of natural history in Edinburgh +university, and became perhaps the first eminent exponent in Great +Britain of the Wernerian geological system; but when he found that +theory untenable, he frankly announced his conversion to the views of +Hutton. As a teacher, Jameson was remarkable for his power of imparting +enthusiasm to his students, and from his class-room there radiated an +influence which gave a marked impetus to the study of geology in +Britain. His energy also, by means of government aid, private donation +and personal outlay, amassed a great part of the splendid collection +which now occupies the natural history department of the Royal Scottish +Museum in Edinburgh. In 1819 Jameson, with Sir David Brewster, started +the _Edinburgh Philosophical Journal_, which after the tenth volume +remained under his sole conduct till his death, which took place in +Edinburgh on the 19th of April 1854. His bust now stands in the hall of +the Edinburgh University library. + + Jameson was the author of _Outline of the Mineralogy of the Shetland + Islands and of the Island of Arran_ (1798), incorporated with + _Mineralogy of the Scottish Isles_ (1800); _Mineralogical Description + of Scotland_, vol. i. pt. 1. (Dumfries, 1805); this was to have been + the first of a series embracing all Scotland; _System of Mineralogy_ + (3 vols., 1804-1808; 3rd ed., 1820); _Elements of Geognosy_ (1809); + _Mineralogical Travels through the Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland + Islands_ (2 vols., 1813); and _Manual of Mineralogy_ (1821); besides a + number of occasional papers, of which a list will be found in the + _Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal_ for July 1854, along with a + portrait and biographical sketch of the author. + + + + +JAMESTOWN, a city and the county-seat of Stutsman county, North Dakota, +U.S.A., on the James River, about 93 m. W. of Fargo. Pop. (1900), 2853, +of whom 587 were foreign-born; (1905) 5093; (1910) 4358. Jamestown is +served by the Northern Pacific railway, of which it is a division +headquarters. At Jamestown is St John's Academy, a school for girls, +conducted by the Sisters of St Joseph. The state hospital for the insane +is just beyond the city limits. The city is the commercial centre of a +prosperous farming and stock-raising region in the James River valley, +and has grain-elevators and flour-mills. Jamestown was first settled in +1873, near Fort Seward, a U.S. military post established in 1872 and +abandoned in 1877, and was chartered as a city in 1883. + + + + +JAMESTOWN, a city of Chautauqua county, New York, U.S.A., at the S. +outlet of Chautauqua Lake, 68 m. S. by W. of Buffalo. Pop. (1900), +22,892, of whom 7270 were foreign-born, mostly Swedish; (1910 census) +31,297. It is served by the Erie and the Jamestown, Chautauqua & Lake +Erie railways, by electric lines extending along Lake Chautauqua to Lake +Erie on the N. and to Warren, Pennsylvania, on the S., and by summer +steamboat lines on Lake Chautauqua. Jamestown is situated among the +hills of Chautauqua county, and is a popular summer resort. There is a +free public library. A supply of natural gas (from Pennsylvania) and a +fine water-power combine to render Jamestown a manufacturing centre of +considerable importance. In 1905 the value of its factory products was +$10,349,752, an increase of 33.9% since 1900. The city owns and operates +its electric-lighting plant and its water-supply system, the water, of +exceptional purity, being obtained from artesian wells 4 m. distant. +Jamestown was settled in 1810, was incorporated in 1827, and was +chartered as a city in 1886. The city was named in honour of James +Prendergast, an early settler. + + + + +JAMESTOWN, a former village in what is now James City county, Virginia, +U.S.A., on Jamestown Island, in the James River, about 40 m. above +Norfolk. It was here that the first permanent English settlement in +America was founded on the 13th of May 1607, that representative +government was inaugurated on the American Continent in 1619, and that +negro servitude was introduced into the original thirteen colonies, also +in 1619. In Jamestown was the first Anglican church built in America. +The settlement was in a low marshy district which proved to be +unhealthy; it was accidentally burned in January 1608, was almost +completely destroyed by Nathaniel Bacon in September 1676, the state +house and other buildings were again burned in 1698, and after the +removal of the seat of government of Virginia from Jamestown to the +Middle Plantations (now Williamsburg) in 1699 the village fell rapidly +into decay. Its population had never been large: it was about 490 in +1609, and 183 in 1623; the mortality was always very heavy. By the +middle of the 19th century the peninsula on which Jamestown had been +situated had become an island, and by 1900 the James River had worn away +the shore but had hardly touched the territory of the "New Towne" +(1619), immediately E. of the first settlement; almost the only visible +remains, however, were the tower of the brick church and a few +gravestones. In 1900 the association for the preservation of Virginia +antiquities, to which the site was deeded in 1893, induced the United +States government to build a wall to prevent the further encroachment of +the river; the foundations of several of the old buildings have since +been uncovered, many interesting relics have been found, and in 1907 +there were erected a brick church (which is as far as possible a +reproduction of the fourth one built in 1639-1647), a marble shaft +marking the site of the first settlement, another shaft commemorating +the first house of burgesses, a bronze monument to the memory of Captain +John Smith, and another monument to the memory of Pocahontas. At the +head of Jamestown peninsula Cornwallis, in July 1781, attempted to +trick the Americans under Lafayette and General Anthony Wayne by +displaying a few men on the peninsula and concealing the principal part +of his army on the mainland; but when Wayne discovered the trap he made +first a vigorous charge, and then a retreat to Lafayette's line. Early +in the Civil War the Confederates regarded the site (then an island) as +of such strategic importance that (near the brick church tower and +probably near the site of the first fortifications by the original +settlers) they erected heavy earthworks upon it for defence. (For +additional details concerning the early history of Jamestown, see +VIRGINIA: _History_.) + +The founding at Jamestown of the first permanent English-speaking +settlement in America was celebrated in 1907 by the Jamestown +tercentennial exposition, held on grounds at Sewell's Point on the shore +of Hampton Roads. About twenty foreign nations, the federal government, +and most of the states of the union took part in the exposition. + + See L. G. Tyler, _The Cradle of the Republic: Jamestown and James + River_ (Richmond, 2nd ed., 1906); Mrs R. A. Pryor, _The Birth of the + Nation: Jamestown, 1607_ (New York, 1907); and particularly S. H. + Yonge, _The Site of Old "James Towne," 1607-1698_ (Richmond, 1904), + embodying the results of the topographical investigations of the + engineer in charge of the river-wall built in 1900-1901. + + + + +JAMI (NUR-ED-DIN 'ABD-UR-RAHMAN IBN AHMAD) (1414-1492), Persian poet and +mystic, was born at Jam in Khorasan, whence the name by which he is +usually known. In his poems he mystically utilizes the connexion of the +name with the same word meaning "wine-cup." He was the last great +classic poet of Persia, and a pronounced mystic of the Sufic philosophy. +His three _diwans_ (1479-1401) contain his lyrical poems and odes; among +his prose writings the chief is his _Baharistan_ ("Spring-garden") +(1487); and his collection of romantic poems, _Haft Aurang_ ("Seven +Thrones"), contains the _Salaman wa Absal_ and his _Yusuf wa Zalikha_ +(Joseph and Potiphar's wife). + + On Jami's life and works see V. von Rosenzweig, _Biographische Notizen + über Mewlana Abdurrahman Dschami_ (Vienna, 1840); Gore Ouseley, + _Biographical Notices of Persian Poets_ (1846); W. N. Lees, _A + Biographical Sketch of the Mystic Philosopher and Poet Jami_ + (Calcutta, 1859); E. Beauvois _s.v._ Djami in _Nouvelle Biographie + générale_; and H. Ethé in Geiger and Kuhn's _Grundriss der iranischen + Philologie_, ii. There are English translations of the _Baharistan_ by + E. Rehatsek (Benares, 1887) and Sorabji Fardunji (Bombay, 1899); of + _Salaman wa Absal_ by Edward FitzGerald (1856, with a notice of Jami's + life); of _Yusuf wa Zalikha_ by R. T. H. Griffith (1882) and A. Rogers + (1892); also selections in English by F. Hadland Davis, _The Persian + Mystics: Jami_ (1908). (See also PERSIA: _Literature_.) + + + + +JAMIESON, JOHN (1759-1838), Scottish lexicographer, son of a minister, +was born in Glasgow, on the 3rd of March 1759. He was educated at +Glasgow University, and subsequently attended classes in Edinburgh. +After six years' theological study, Jamieson was licensed to preach in +1789 and became pastor of an Anti-burgher congregation in Forfar; and in +1797 he was called to the Anti-burgher church in Nicolson Street, +Edinburgh. The union of the Burgher and Anti-burgher sections of the +Secession Church in 1820 was largely due to his exertions. He retired +from the ministry in 1830 and died in Edinburgh on the 12th of July +1838. + + Jamieson's name stands at the head of a tolerably long list of works + in the _Bibliotheca britannica_; but by far his most important book is + the laborious and erudite compilation, best described by its own + title-page: _An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language; + illustrating the words in their different significations by examples + from Ancient and Modern Writers; shewing their Affinity to those of + other Languages, and especially the Northern; explaining many terms + which though now obsolete in England were formerly common to both + countries; and elucidating National Rites, Customs and Institutions in + their Analogy to those of other nations; to which is prefixed a + Dissertation on the Origin of the Scottish Language_. This appeared in + 2 vols., 4to, at Edinburgh in 1808, followed in 1825 by a + _Supplement_, in 2 vols., 4to, in which he was assisted by scholars in + all parts of the country. A revised edition by Longmuir and Donaldson + was issued in 1879-1887. + + + + +JAMIESON, ROBERT (c. 1780-1844), Scottish antiquary, was born in +Morayshire. In 1806 he published a collection of _Popular Ballads and +Songs from Tradition, Manuscript and Scarce Editions_. Two pleasing +lyrics of his own were included. Scott, through whose assistance he +received a government post at Edinburgh, held Jamieson in high esteem +and pointed out his skill in discovering the connexion between +Scandinavian and Scottish legends. Jamieson's work preserved much oral +tradition which might otherwise have been lost. He was associated with +Henry Weber and Scott in _Illustrations of Northern Antiquities_ (1814). +He died on the 24th of September 1844. + + + + +JAMKHANDI, a native state of India, in the Deccan division of Bombay, +ranking as one of the southern Mahratta Jagirs. Area, 524 sq. m. Pop. +(1901), 105,357; estimated revenue, £37,000; tribute, £1300. The chief +is a Brahman of the Patwardhan family. Cotton, wheat and millet are +produced, and cotton and silk cloth are manufactured, though not +exported. The town of JAMKHANDI, the capital, is situated 68 m. E. of +Kolhapur. Pop. (1901), 13,029. + + + + +JAMMU, or JUMMOO, the capital of the state of Jammu and Kashmir in +Northern India, on the river Tavi (Ta-wi), a tributary of the Chenab. +Pop. (1901), 36,130. The town and palace stand upon the right bank of +the river; the fort overhangs the left bank at an elevation of 150 ft. +above the stream. The lofty whitened walls of the palace and citadel +present a striking appearance from the surrounding country. Extensive +pleasure grounds and ruins of great size attest the former prosperity of +the city when it was the seat of a Rajput dynasty whose dominions +extended into the plains and included the modern district of Sialkot. It +was afterwards conquered by the Sikhs, and formed part of Ranjit Singh's +dominions. After his death it was acquired by Gulab Singh as the nucleus +of his dominions, to which the British added Kashmir in 1846. It is +connected with Sialkot in the Punjab by a railway 16 m. long. In 1898 +the town was devastated by a fire, which destroyed most of the public +offices. + +The state of Jammu proper, as opposed to Kashmir, consists of a +submontane tract, forming the upper basin of the Chenab. Pop. (1901), +1,521,307, showing an increase of 5% in the decade. A land settlement +has recently been introduced under British supervision. + + + + +JAMNIA ([Greek: Iamnia] or [Greek: Iamneia]), the Greek form of the +Hebrew name Jabneel--i.e. "God causeth to build" (Josh. xv. 11)--or +Jabneh (2 Chron. xxvi. 6), the modern Arabic YEBNA, a town of Palestine, +on the border between Dan and Judah, situated 13 m. S. of Jaffa, and 4 +m. E. of the seashore. The modern village stands on an isolated sandy +hillock, surrounded by gardens with olives to the north and sand-dunes +to the west. It contains a small crusaders' church, now a mosque. Jamnia +belonged to the Philistines, and Uzziah of Judah is said to have taken +it (2 Chron. xxvi. 6). In Maccabean times Joseph and Azarias attacked it +unsuccessfully (1 Macc. v. 55-62; 2 Macc. xii. 8 seq. is untrustworthy). +Alexander Jannaeus subdued it, and under Pompey it became Roman. It +changed hands several times, is mentioned by Strabo (xvi. 2) as being +once very populous, and in the Jewish war was taken by Vespasian. The +population was mainly Jewish (Philo, _Leg. ad Gaium_, § 30), and the +town is principally famous as having been the seat of the Sanhedrin and +the religious centre of Judaism from A.D. 70 to 135. It sent a bishop to +Nicaea in 325. In 1144 a crusaders' fortress was built on the hill, +which is often mentioned under the name Ibelin. There was also a Jabneel +in Lower Galilee (Josh. xix. 33), called later Caphar Yama, the present +village Yemma, 8 m. S. of Tiberias; and another fortress in Upper +Galilee was named Jamnia (Josephus, _Vita_, 37). Attempts have been made +to unify these two Galilean sites, but without success. + + + + +JAMRUD, a fort and cantonment in India, just beyond the border of +Peshawar district, North-West Frontier Province, situated at the mouth +of the Khyber Pass, 10½ m. W. of Peshawar city, with which it is +connected by a branch railway. It was occupied by Hari Singh, Ranjit +Singh's commander in 1836; but in April 1837 Dost Mahommed sent a body +of Afghans to attack it. The Sikhs gained a doubtful victory, with the +loss of their general. During the military operations of 1878-79 Jamrud +became a place of considerable importance as the frontier outpost on +British territory towards Afghanistan, and it was also the base of +operations for a portion of the Tirah campaign in 1897-1898. It is the +headquarters of the Khyber Rifles, and the collecting station for the +Khyber tolls. Pop. (1901), 1848. + + + + +JAMS AND JELLIES. In the article FOOD PRESERVATION it is pointed out +that concentrated sugar solution inhibits the growth of organisms and +has, therefore, a preservative action. The preparation of jams and +jellies is based upon that fact. All fresh and succulent fruit contains +a large percentage of water, amounting to at least four-fifths of the +whole, and a comparatively small proportion of sugar, not exceeding as a +rule from 10 to 15%. Such fruit is naturally liable to decomposition +unless the greater proportion of the water is removed or the percentage +of sugar is greatly increased. The jams and jellies of commerce are +fruit preserves containing so much added sugar that the total amount of +sugar forms about two-thirds of the weight of the articles. All ordinary +edible fruit can be and is made into jam. The fruit is sometimes pulped +and stoned, sometimes used whole and unbroken; oranges are sliced or +shredded. For the preparation of jellies only certain fruit is suitable, +namely such as contains a peculiar material which on boiling becomes +dissolved and on cooling solidifies with the formation of a gelatinous +mass. This material, often called pectin, occurs mainly in comparatively +acid fruit like gooseberries, currants and apples, and is almost absent +from strawberries and raspberries. It is chemically a member of the +group of carbohydrates, is closely allied with vegetable gums abundantly +formed by certain sea-weeds and mosses (agar-agar and Iceland moss), and +is probably a mixture of various pentoses. Pentoses are devoid of +food-value, but, like animal gelatine, with which they are in no way +related, can form vehicles for food material. Some degree of +gelatinization is aimed at also in jams; hence to such fruits as have no +gelatinizing power an addition of apple or gooseberry juice, or even of +Iceland moss or agar-agar, is made. Animal gelatin is very rarely used. + +The art of jam and jelly making was formerly domestic, but has become a +very large branch of manufacture. For the production of a thoroughly +satisfactory conserve the boiling-down must be carried out very rapidly, +so that the natural colour of the fruit shall be little affected. +Considerable experience is required to stop at the right point; too +short boiling leaves an excess of water, leading to fermentation, while +over-concentration promotes crystallization of the sugar. The +manufactured product is on that account, as a rule, more uniform and +bright than the domestic article. The finish of the boiling is mostly +judged by rule of thumb, but in some scientifically conducted factories +careful thermometric observation is employed. Formerly jams and jellies +consisted of nothing but fruit and sugar; now starch-glucose is +frequently used by manufacturers as an ingredient. This permits of the +production of a slightly more aqueous and gelatinous product, alleged +also to be devoid of crystallizing power, as compared with the homemade +article. The addition of starch-glucose is not held to be an +adulteration. Aniline colours are very frequently used by manufacturers +to enhance the colour, and the effect of an excess of water is sought to +be counteracted by the addition of some salicylic acid or other +preservative. There has long been, and still exists to some extent, a +popular prejudice in favour of sugar obtained from the sugar-cane as +compared with that of the sugar-beet. This prejudice is absolutely +baseless, and enormous quantities of beet-sugar are used in the boiling +of jam. Adulteration in the gross sense, such as a substantial addition +of coarse pulp, like that of turnips or mangolds, very rarely occurs; +but the pulp of apple and other cheap fruit is often admixed without +notice to the purchaser. The use of colouring matters and preservatives +is discussed at length in the article ADULTERATION. (O. H.*) + + + + +JANESVILLE, a city and the county-seat of Rock County, Wisconsin, +U.S.A., situated on both sides of the Rock river, 70 m. S.W. of +Milwaukee and 90 m. N.W. of Chicago. Pop. (1900), 13,185, of whom 2409 +were foreign-born; (1910 census), 13,894. It is served by the Chicago & +North-Western and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul railways, and by +electric lines connecting with Madison and Beloit, Wis., and Rockford, +Illinois. The Rock river is not commercially navigable at this point, +but furnishes valuable water-power for manufacturing purposes. The city +is picturesquely situated on bluffs above the river. Janesville is the +centre of the tobacco trade of the state, and has various manufactures. +The total value of the city's factory product in 1905 was $3,846,038, an +increase of 20.8% since 1900. Its public buildings include a city hall, +court house, post office, city hospital and a public library. It is the +seat of a school for the blind, opened as a private institution in 1849 +and taken over by the state in 1850, the first charitable institution +controlled by the state, ranking as one of the most successful of its +kind in the United States. The first settlement was made here about +1834. Janesville was named in honour of Henry F. Janes, an early +settler, and was chartered as a city in 1853. + + + + +JANET, PAUL (1823-1899), French philosophical writer, was born in Paris +on the 30th of April 1823. He was professor of moral philosophy at +Bourges (1845-1848) and Strassburg (1848-1857), and of logic at the +lycée Louis-le-Grand, Paris (1857-1864). In 1864 he was appointed to the +chair of philosophy at the Sorbonne, and elected a member of the academy +of the moral and political sciences. He wrote a large number of books +and articles upon philosophy, politics and ethics, on idealistic lines: +_La Famille, Histoire de la philosophie dans l'antiquité et dans le +temps moderne, Histoire de la science politique, Philosophie de la +Révolution Française_, &c. They are not characterized by much +originality of thought. In philosophy he was a follower of Victor +Cousin, and through him of Hegel. His principal work in this line, +_Théorie de la morale_, is little more than a somewhat patronizing +reproduction of Kant. He died in October 1899. + + + + +JANGIPUR, or JAHANGIRPUR, a town of British India, in Murshidabad +district, Bengal, situated on the Bhagirathi. Pop. (1901), 10,921. The +town is said to have been founded by the Mogul emperor Jahangir. During +the early years of British rule it was an important centre of the silk +trade, and the site of one of the East India Company's commercial +residencies. Jangipur is now best known as the toll station for +registering all the traffic on the Bhagirathi. The number of boats +registered annually is about 10,000. + + + + +JANIN, JULES GABRIEL (1804-1874), French critic, was born at St Étienne +(Loire) on the 16th of February 1804, and died near Paris on the 19th of +June 1874. His father was a lawyer, and he was well educated, first at +St Étienne, and then at the lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris. He betook +himself to journalism very early, and worked on the _Figaro_, the +_Quotidienne_, &c., until in 1830 he became dramatic critic of the +_Journal des Débats_. Long before this, however, he had made a +considerable literary reputation, for which indeed his strange novel +_L'Âne mort et la femme guillotinée_ (1829) would have sufficed. _La +Confession_ (1830), which followed, was less remarkable in substance but +even more so in style; and in _Barnave_ (1831) he attacked the Orleans +family. From the day, however, when Janin became the theatrical critic +of the _Débats_, though he continued to write books indefatigably, he +was to most Frenchmen a dramatic critic and nothing more. He was +outrageously inconsistent, and judged things from no general point of +view whatsoever, though his judgment was usually good-natured. Few +journalists have ever been masters of a more attractive fashion of +saying the first thing that came into their heads. After many years of +_feuilleton_ writing he collected some of his articles in the work +called _Histoire de la littérature dramatique en France_ (1853-1858), +which by no means deserves its title. In 1865 he made his first attempt +upon the Academy, but was not successful till five years later. +Meanwhile he had not been content with his _feuilletons_, written +persistently about all manner of things. No one was more in request with +the Paris publishers for prefaces, letterpress to illustrated books and +such trifles. He travelled (picking up in one of his journeys a curious +windfall, a country house at Lucca, in a lottery), and wrote accounts of +his travels; he wrote numerous tales and novels, and composed many other +works, of which by far the best is the _Fin d'un monde et du neveu de +Rameau_ (1861), in which, under the guise of a sequel to Diderot's +masterpiece, he showed his great familiarity with the late 18th century. +He married in 1841; his wife had money, and he was always in easy +circumstances. In the early part of his career he had many quarrels, +notably one with Félix Pyat (1810-1889), whom he prosecuted successfully +for defamation of character. For the most part his work is mere +improvisation, and has few elements of vitality except a light and vivid +style. His _Oeuvres choisies_ (12 vols., 1875-1878) were edited by A. de +la Fitzelière. + + A study on Janin with a bibliography was published by A. Piédagnel in + 1874. See also Sainte-Beuve, _Causeries du lundi_, ii. and v., and + Gustave Planche, _Portraits littéraires_. + + + + +JANISSARIES (corrupted from Turkish _yeni chéri_, new troops), an +organized military force constituting until 1826 the standing army of +the Ottoman empire. At the outset of her history Turkey possessed no +standing army. All Moslems capable of bearing arms served as a kind of +volunteer yeomanry known as _akinjis_; they were summoned by public +criers, or, if the occasion required it, by secret messengers. It was +under Orkhan that a regular paid army was first organized: the soldiers +were known as _yaya_ or _piyadé_. The result was unsatisfactory, as the +Turcomans, from whom these troops were recruited, were unaccustomed to +fight on foot or to submit to military discipline. Accordingly in 1330, +on the advice of Chendéréli Kara Khalil, the system known as _devshurmé_ +or forced levy, was adopted, whereby a certain number of Christian +youths (at first 1000) were every year taken from their parents and, +after undergoing a period of apprenticeship, were enrolled as _yeni +chéri_ or new troops. The venerable saint Haji Bektash, founder of the +Bektashi dervishes, blessed the corps and promised them victory; he +remained ever after the patron saint of the janissaries. + +At first the corps was exclusively recruited by the forced levy of +Christian children, for which purpose the officer known as +_tournaji-bashi_, or head-keeper of the cranes, made periodical tours in +the provinces. The fixed organization of the corps dates only from +Mahommed II., and its regulations were subsequently modified by Suleiman +I. In early days all Christians were enrolled indiscriminately; later +those from Albania, Bosnia and Bulgaria were preferred. The recruits +while serving their apprenticeship were instructed in the principles of +the faith by _khojas_, but according to D'Ohsson (vii. 327) they were +not obliged to become Moslems. + +The entire corps, commanded by the aga of the janissaries, was known as +the _ojak_ (hearth); it was divided into _ortas_ or units of varying +numbers; the _oda_ (room) was the name given to the barracks in which +the janissaries were lodged. There were, after the reorganization of +Suleiman I., 196 ortas of three classes, viz. the _jemaat_, comprising +101 ortas, the _beuluk_, 61 ortas, and the _sekban_, or _seimen_, 34 +ortas; to these must be added 34 ortas of _ajami_ or apprentices. The +strength of the orta varied greatly, sometimes being as low as 100, +sometimes rising considerably beyond its nominal war strength of 500. +The distinction between the different classes seems to have been +principally in name; in theory the jemaat, or _yaya beiler_, were +specially charged with the duty of frontier-guards; the _beuluks_ had +the privilege of serving as the sultan's guards and of keeping the +sacred banner in their custody. + +Until the accession of Murad III. (1574) the total effective of the +janissaries, including the ajami or apprentices, did not exceed 20,000. +In 1582 irregularities in the mode of admission to the ranks began. Soon +parents themselves begged to have their children enrolled, so great were +the privileges attaching to the corps; later the privilege of enlistment +was restricted to the children or relatives of former janissaries; +eventually the regulations were much relaxed, and any person was +admitted, only negroes being excluded. In 1591 the ojak numbered 48,688 +men. Under Ibrahim (1640-1648) it was reduced by Kara Mustafa to 17,000; +but it soon rose again, and at the accession of Mahommed IV. (1648), +the accession-bakshish was distributed to 50,000 janissaries. During the +war of 1683-1698 the rules for admission were suspended, 30,000 recruits +being received at one time, and the effective of the corps rising to +70,000; about 1805 it numbered more than 112,000; it went on increasing +until the destruction of the janissaries, when it reached 135,000. It +would perhaps be more correct to say that these are the numbers figuring +on the pay-sheets, and that they doubtless largely exceed the total of +the men actually serving in the ranks. + +Promotion to the rank of warrant officer was obtained by long or +distinguished service; it was by seniority up to the rank of _odabashi_, +but odabashis were promoted to the rank of _chorbaji_ (commander of an +orta) solely by selection. Janissaries advanced in their own orta, which +they left only to assume the command of another. Ortas remained +permanently stationed in the fortress towns in which they were in +garrison, being displaced in time of peace only when some violent +animosity broke out between two companies. There were usually 12 in +garrison at Belgrade, 14 at Khotin, 16 at Widdin, 20 at Bagdad, &c. The +commander was frequently changed. A new chorbaji was usually appointed +to the command of an orta stationed at a frontier post; he was then +transferred elsewhere, so that in course of time he passed through +different provinces. + +In time of peace the janissary received no pay. At first his war pay was +limited to one aspre per diem, but it was eventually raised to a minimum +of three aspres, while veterans received as much as 29 aspres, and +retired officers from 30 to 120. The aga received 24,000 piastres per +annum; the ordinary pay of a commander was 120 aspres per diem. The aga +and several of his subordinates received a percentage of the pay and +allowance of the troops; they also inherited the property of deceased +janissaries. Moreover, the officers profited largely by retaining the +names of dead or fictitious janissaries on the pay-rolls. Rations of +mutton, bread and candles were furnished by the government, the supply +of rice, butter and vegetables being at the charge of the commandant. +The rations would have been entirely inadequate if the janissaries had +not been allowed, contrary to the regulations, to pursue different +callings, such as those of baker, butcher, glazier, boatman, &c. At +first the janissaries bore no other distinctive mark save the white felt +cap. Soon the red cap with gold embroidery was substituted. Later a +uniform was introduced, of which the distinctive mark was less the +colour than the cut of the coat and the shape of the head-dress and +turban. The only distinction in the costume of commanding officers was +in the colour of their boots, those of the beuluks being red while the +others were yellow; subordinate officers wore black boots. + +The fundamental laws of the janissaries, which were very early +infringed, were as follows: implicit obedience to their officers; +perfect accord and union among themselves; abstinence from luxury, +extravagance and practices unseemly for a soldier and a brave man; +observance of the rules of Haji Bektash and of the religious law; +exclusion from the ranks of all save those properly levied; special +rules for the infliction of the death-penalty; promotion to be by +seniority; janissaries to be admonished or punished by their own +officers only; the infirm and unfit to be pensioned; janissaries were +not to let their beards grow, not to marry, nor to leave their barracks, +nor to engage in trade; but were to spend their time in drill and in +practising the arts of war. + +In time of peace the state supplied no arms, and the janissaries on +service in the capital were armed only with clubs; they were forbidden +to carry any arm save a cutlass, the only exception being at the +frontier-posts. In time of war the janissaries provided their own arms, +and these might be any which took their fancy. However, they were +induced by rivalry to procure the best obtainable and to keep them in +perfect order. The banner of the janissaries was of white silk on which +verses from the Koran were embroidered in gold. This banner was planted +beside the aga's tent in camp, with four other flags in red cases, and +his three horse-tails. Each orta had its flag, half-red and +half-yellow, placed before the tent of its commander. Each orta had two +or three great caldrons used for boiling the soup and pilaw; these were +under the guard of subordinate officers. A particular superstition +attached to them: if they were lost in battle all the officers were +disgraced, and the orta was no longer allowed to parade with its +caldrons in public ceremonies. The janissaries were stationed in most of +the guard-houses of Constantinople and other large towns. No sentries +were on duty, but rounds were sent out two or three times a day. It was +customary for the sultan or the grand vizier to bestow largess on an +orta which they might visit. + +The janissaries conducted themselves with extreme violence and brutality +towards civilians. They extorted money from them on every possible +pretext: thus, it was their duty to sweep the streets in the immediate +vicinity of their barracks, but they forced the civilians, especially if +rayas, to perform this task or to pay a bribe. They were themselves +subject to severe corporal punishments; if these were to take place +publicly the ojak was first asked for its consent. + +At first a source of strength to Turkey as being the only well-organized +and disciplined force in the country, the janissaries soon became its +bane, thanks to their lawlessness and exactions. One frequent means of +exhibiting their discontent was to set fire to Constantinople; 140 such +fires are said to have been caused during the 28 years of Ahmed III.'s +reign. The janissaries were at all times distinguished for their want of +respect towards the sultans; their outbreaks were never due to a real +desire for reforms of abuses or of misgovernment, but were solely caused +to obtain the downfall of some obnoxious minister. + +The first recorded revolt of the janissaries is in 1443, on the occasion +of the second accession of Mahommed II., when they broke into rebellion +at Adrianople. A similar revolt happened at his death, when Bayazid II. +was forced to yield to their demands and thus the custom of the +accession-bakshish was established; at the end of his reign it was the +janissaries who forced Bayazid to summon Prince Selim and to hand over +the reins of power to him. During the Persian campaign of Selim I. they +mutinied more than once. Under Osman II. their disorders reached their +greatest height and led to the dethronement and murder of the sultan. It +would be tedious to recall all their acts of insubordination. Throughout +Turkish history they were made use of as instruments by unscrupulous and +ambitious statesmen, and in the 17th century they had become a +praetorian guard in the worst sense of the word. Sultan Selim III. in +despair endeavoured to organize a properly drilled and disciplined +force, under the name of _nizam-i-jedid_, to take their place; for some +time the janissaries regarded this attempt in sullen silence; a curious +detail is that Napoleon's ambassador Sebastiani strongly dissuaded the +sultan from taking this step. Again serving as tools, the janissaries +dethroned Selim III. and obtained the abolition of the nizam-i-jedid. +But after the successful revolution of Bairakdar Pasha of Widdin the new +troops were re-established and drilled: the resentment of the +janissaries rose to such a height that they attacked the grand vizier's +house, and after destroying it marched against the sultan's palace. They +were repulsed by cannon, losing 600 men in the affair (1806). But such +was the excitement and alarm caused at Constantinople that the +nizam-i-jedid, or _sekbans_ as they were now called, had to be +suppressed. During the next 20 years the misdeeds and turbulence of the +janissaries knew no bounds. Sultan Mahmud II., powerfully impressed by +their violence and lawlessness at his accession, and with the example of +Mehemet Ali's method of suppressing the Mamlukes before his eyes, +determined to rid the state of this scourge; long biding his time, in +1825 he decided to form a corps of regular drilled troops known as +_eshkenjis_. A _fetva_ was obtained from the Sheikh-ul-Islam to the +effect that it was the duty of Moslems to acquire military science. The +imperial decree announcing the formation of the new troops was +promulgated at a grand council, and the high dignitaries present +(including certain of the principal officers of the janissaries who +concurred) undertook to comply with its provisions. But the janissaries +rose in revolt, and on the 10th of June 1826, began to collect on the +Et Meidan square at Constantinople; at midnight they attacked the house +of the aga of janissaries, and, finding he had made good his escape, +proceeded to overturn the caldrons of as many ortas as they could find, +thus forcing the troops of those ortas to join the insurrection. Then +they pillaged and robbed throughout the town. Meanwhile the government +was collecting its forces; the ulema, consulted by the sultan, gave the +following fetva: "If unjust and violent men attack their brethren, fight +against the aggressors and send them before their natural judge!" On +this the sacred standard of the prophet was unfurled, and war was +formally declared against these disturbers of order. Cannon were brought +against the Et Meidan, which was surrounded by troops. Ibrahim Aga, +known as Kara Jehennum, the commander of the artillery, made a last +appeal to the janissaries to surrender; they refused, and fire was +opened upon them. Such as escaped were shot down as they fled; the +barracks where many found refuge were burnt; those who were taken +prisoner were brought before the grand vizier and hanged. Before many +days were over the corps had ceased to exist, and the janissaries, the +glory of Turkey's early days and the scourge of the country for the last +two centuries, had passed for ever from the page of her history. + + See M. d'Ohsson, _Tableaux de l'empire ottoman_ (Paris, 1787-1820); + Ahmed Vefyk, _Lehjé-i-osmanié_ (Constantinople, 1290-1874); A. Djévad + Bey, _État militaire ottoman_ (Constantinople, 1885). + + + + +JANIUAY, a town of the province of Iloilo, Panay, Philippine Islands, on +the Suague river, about 20 m. W.N.W. of Iloilo, the capital. Pop. +(1903), 27,399, including Lambúnao (6661) annexed to Janiuay in 1903. +The town commands delightful views of mountain and valley scenery. An +excellent road connects it with Pototan, about 10 m. E. The surrounding +country is hilly but fertile and well cultivated, producing rice, sugar, +tobacco, vegetables (for the Iloilo market), hemp and Indian corn. The +women weave and sell beautiful fabrics of pina, silk, cotton and abaca. +The language is Panay-Visayan. Janiuay was founded in 1578; it was first +established in the mountains and was subsequently removed to its present +site. + + + + +JANJIRA, a native state of India, in the Konkan division of Bombay, +situated along the coast among the spurs of the Western Ghats, 40 m. S. +of Bombay city. Area, 324 sq. m. Pop. (1901), 85,414, showing an +increase of 4% in the decade. The estimated revenue is about £37,000; +there is no tribute. The chief, whose title is Nawab Sahib, is by +descent a Sidi or Abyssinian Mahommedan; and his ancestors were for many +generations admirals of the Mahommedan rulers of the Deccan. The state, +popularly known as Habsan (= Abyssinian), did not come under direct +subordination to the British until 1870. It supplies sailors and +fishermen, and also fire-wood, to Bombay, with which it is in regular +communication by steamer. + +The Nawab of Janjira is also chief of the state of JAFARABAD (q.v.). + + + + +JAN MAYEN, an arctic island between Greenland and the north of Norway, +about 71° N. 8° W. It is 34 m. long and 9 in greatest breadth, and is +divided into two parts by a narrow isthmus. The island is of volcanic +formation and mountainous, the highest summit being Beerenberg in the +north (8350 ft.). Volcanic eruptions have been observed. Glaciers are +fully developed. Henry Hudson discovered the island in 1607 and called +it Hudson's Tutches or Touches. Thereafter it was several times observed +by navigators who successively claimed its discovery and renamed it. +Thus, in 1611 or the following year whalers from Hull named it Trinity +Island; in 1612 Jean Vrolicq, a French whaler, called it Île de +Richelieu; and in 1614 Joris Carolus named one of its promontories Jan +Meys Hoek after the captain of one of his ships. The present name of the +island is derived from this, the claim of its discovery by a Dutch +navigator, Jan Mayen, in 1611, being unsupportable. The island is not +permanently inhabited, but has been frequently visited by explorers, +sealers and whalers; and an Austrian station for scientific observations +was maintained here for a year in 1882-1883. During this period a mean +temperature of 27.8° F. was recorded. + + + + +JANSEN, CORNELIUS (1585-1638), bishop of Ypres, and father of the +religious revival known as Jansenism, was born of humble Catholic +parentage at Accoy in the province of Utrecht on the 28th of October +1585. In 1602 he entered the university of Louvain, then in the throes +of a violent conflict between the Jesuit, or scholastic, party and the +followers of Michael Baius, who swore by St Augustine. Jansen ended by +attaching himself strongly to the latter party, and presently made a +momentous friendship with a like-minded fellow-student, Du Vergier de +Hauranne, afterwards abbot of Saint Cyran. After taking his degree he +went to Paris, partly to recruit his health by a change of scene, partly +to study Greek. Eventually he joined Du Vergier at his country home near +Bayonne, and spent some years teaching at the bishop's college. All his +spare time was spent in studying the early Fathers with Du Vergier, and +laying plans for a reformation of the Church. In 1616 he returned to +Louvain, to take charge of the college of St Pulcheria, a hostel for +Dutch students of theology. Pupils found him a somewhat choleric and +exacting master and academic society a great recluse. However, he took +an active part in the university's resistance to the Jesuits; for these +had established a theological school of their own in Louvain, which was +proving a formidable rival to the official faculty of divinity. In the +hope of repressing their encroachments, Jansen was sent twice to Madrid, +in 1624 and 1626; the second time he narrowly escaped the Inquisition. +He warmly supported the Catholic missionary bishop of Holland, Rovenius, +in his contests with the Jesuits, who were trying to evangelize that +country without regard to the bishop's wishes. He also crossed swords +more than once with the Dutch Presbyterian champion, Voetius, still +remembered for his attacks on Descartes. Antipathy to the Jesuits +brought Jansen no nearer Protestantism; on the contrary, he yearned to +beat these by their own weapons, chiefly by showing them that Catholics +could interpret the Bible in a manner quite as mystical and pietistic as +theirs. This became the great object of his lectures, when he was +appointed regius professor of scriptural interpretation at Louvain in +1630. Still more was it the object of his _Augustinus_, a bulky treatise +on the theology of St Augustine, barely finished at the time of his +death. Preparing it had been his chief occupation ever since he went +back to Louvain. But Jansen, as he said, did not mean to be a +school-pedant all his life; and there were moments when he dreamed +political dreams. He looked forward to a time when Belgium should throw +off the Spanish yoke and become an independent Catholic republic on the +model of Protestant Holland. These ideas became known to his Spanish +rulers, and to assuage them he wrote a philippic called the _Mars +gallicus_ (1635), a violent attack on French ambitions generally, and on +Richelieu's indifference to international Catholic interests in +particular. The _Mars gallicus_ did not do much to help Jansen's friends +in France, but it more than appeased the wrath of Madrid with Jansen +himself; in 1636 he was appointed bishop of Ypres. Within two years he +was cut off by a sudden illness on the 6th of May 1638; the +_Augustinus_, the book of his life, was published posthumously in 1640. + + Full details as to Jansen's career will be found in Reuchlin's + _Geschichte von Port Royal_ (Hamburg, 1839), vol. i. See also + _Jansénius_ by the Abbés Callawaert and Nols (Louvain, 1893). + (St C.) + + + + +JANSENISM, the religious principles laid down by Cornelius Jansen in his +_Augustinus_. This was simply a digest of the teaching of St Augustine, +drawn up with a special eye to the needs of the 17th century. In +Jansen's opinion the church was suffering from three evils. The official +scholastic theology was anything but evangelical. Having set out to +embody the mysteries of faith in human language, it had fallen a victim +to the excellence of its own methods; language proved too strong for +mystery. Theology sank into a branch of dialectic; whatever would not +fit in with a logical formula was cast aside as useless. But average +human nature does not take kindly to a syllogism, and theology had +ceased to have any appreciable influence on popular religion. Simple +souls found their spiritual pasture in little mincing "devotions"; while +robuster minds built up for themselves a natural moralistic religion, +quite as close to Epictetus as to Christianity. All these three evils +were attacked by Jansen. As against the theologians, he urged that in a +spiritual religion experience, not reason, must be our guide. As against +the stoical self-sufficiency of the moralists, he dwelt on the +helplessness of man and his dependence on his maker. As against the +ceremonialists, he maintained that no amount of church-going will save a +man, unless the love of God is in him. But this capacity for love no one +can give himself. If he is born without the religious instinct, he can +only receive it by going through a process of "conversion." And whether +God converts this man or that depends on his good pleasure. Thus +Jansen's theories of conversion melt into predestination; although, in +doing so, they somewhat modify its grimness. Even for the worst +miscreant there is hope--for who can say but that God may yet think fit +to convert him? Jansen's thoughts went back every moment to his two +spiritual heroes, St Augustine and St Paul, each of whom had been "the +chief of sinners." + +Such doctrines have a marked analogy to those of Calvin; but in many +ways Jansen differed widely from the Protestants. He vehemently rejected +their doctrine of justification by faith; conversion might be +instantaneous, but it was only the beginning of a long and gradual +process of justification. Secondly, although the one thing necessary in +religion was a personal relation of the human soul to its maker, Jansen +held that that relation was only possible in and through the Roman +Church. Herein he was following Augustine, who had managed to couple +together a high theory of church authority and sacramental grace with a +strongly personal religion. But the circumstances of the 17th century +were not those of the 5th; and Jansen landed his followers in an +inextricable confusion. What were they to do, when the outward church +said one thing, and the inward voice said another? Some time went by, +however, before the two authorities came into open conflict. Jansen's +ideas were popularized in France by his friend Du Vergier, abbot of St +Cyran; and he dwelt mainly on the practical side of the matter--on the +necessity of conversion and love of God, as the basis of the religious +life. This brought him into conflict with the Jesuits, whom he accused +of giving absolution much too easily, without any serious inquiry into +the dispositions of their penitent. His views are expounded at length by +his disciple, Antoine Arnauld, in a book on _Frequent Communion_ (1643). +This book was the first manifestation of Jansenism to the general public +in France, and raised a violent storm. But many divines supported +Arnauld; and no official action was taken against his party till 1649. +In that year the Paris University condemned five propositions from +Jansen's _Augustinus_, all relative to predestination. This censure, +backed by the signatures of eighty-five bishops, was sent up to Rome for +endorsement; and in 1653 Pope Innocent X. declared all five propositions +heretical. + +This decree placed the Jansenists between two fires; for although the +five propositions only represented one side of Jansen's teaching, it was +recognized by both parties that the whole question was to be fought out +on this issue. Under the leadership of Arnauld, who came of a great +family of lawyers, the Jansenists accordingly took refuge in a series of +legal tactics. Firstly, they denied that Jansen had meant the +propositions in the sense condemned. Alexander VII. replied (1656) that +his predecessor had condemned them in the sense intended by their +author. Arnauld retorted that the church might be infallible in abstract +questions of theology; but as to what was passing through an author's +mind it knew no more than any one else. However, the French government +supported the pope. In 1656 Arnauld was deprived of his degree, in spite +of Pascal's _Provincial Letters_ (1656-1657), begun in an attempt to +save him (see PASCAL; CASUISTRY). In 1661 a formulary, or solemn +renunciation of Jansen, was imposed on all his suspected followers; +those who would not sign it went into hiding, or to the Bastille. Peace +was only restored under Clement IX. in 1669. + +This peace was treated by Jansenist writers as a triumph; really it was +the beginning of their downfall. They had set out to reform the Church +of Rome; they ended by having to fight hard for a doubtful foothold +within it. Even that foothold soon gave way. Louis XIV. was a fanatic +for uniformity, civil and religious; the last thing he was likely to +tolerate was a handful of eccentric recluses, who believed themselves to +be in special touch with Heaven, and therefore might at any moment set +their conscience up against the law. During the lifetime of his cousin, +Madame de Longueville, the great protectress of the Jansenists, Louis +stayed his hand; on her death (1679) the reign of severity began. That +summer Arnauld, who had spent the greater part of his life in hiding, +was forced to leave France for good. + +Six years later he was joined in exile by Pasquier Quesnel who succeeded +him as leader of the party. Long before his flight from France Quesnel +had published a devotional commentary--_Réflexions morales sur le +Nouveau Testament_--which had gone through many editions without +exciting official suspicion. But in 1695 Louis Antoine de Noailles, +bishop of Châlons, was made archbishop of Paris. He was known to be very +hostile to the Jesuits, and at Châlons had more than once expressed +official approval of Quesnel's _Réflexions_. So the Jesuit party +determined to wreck archbishop and book at the same time. The Jansenists +played into their hands by suddenly raising (1701) in the Paris divinity +school the question whether it was necessary to accept the condemnation +of Jansen with interior assent, or whether a "respectful silence" was +enough. Very soon ecclesiastical France was in a blaze. In 1703 Louis +XIV. wrote to Pope Clement XI., proposing that they should take joint +action to make an end of Jansenism for ever. Clement replied in 1705 +with a bull condemning respectful silence. This measure only whetted +Louis's appetite. He was growing old and increasingly superstitious; the +affairs of his realm were going from bad to worse; he became frenziedly +anxious to propitiate the wrath of his maker by making war on the +enemies of the Church. In 1711 he asked the pope for a second, and still +stronger bull, that would tear up Jansenism by the roots. The pope's +choice of a book to condemn fell on Quesnel's _Réflexions_; in 1713 +appeared the bull _Unigenitus_, anathematizing no less than +one-hundred-and-one of its propositions. Indeed, in his zeal against the +Jansenists the pope condemned various practices in no way peculiar to +their party; thus, for instance, many orthodox Catholics were +exasperated at the heavy blow he dealt at popular Bible reading. Hence +the bull met with much opposition from Archbishop de Noailles and others +who did not call themselves Jansenists. In the midst of the conflict +Louis XIV. died (September 1715); but the freethinking duke of Orleans, +who succeeded him as regent, continued after some wavering to support +the bull. Thereupon four bishops appealed against it to a general +council; and the country became divided into "appellants" and +"acceptants" (1717). The regent's disreputable minister, Cardinal +Dubois, patched up an abortive truce in 1720, but the appellants +promptly "re-appealed" against it. During the next ten years, however, +they were slowly crushed, and in 1730 the _Unigenitus_ was proclaimed +part and parcel of the law of France. This led to a great quarrel with +the judges, who were intensely Gallican in spirit (see GALLICANISM), and +had always regarded the _Unigenitus_ as a triumph of ultramontanism. The +quarrel dragged indefinitely on through the 18th century, though the +questions at issue were really constitutional and political rather than +religious. + +Meanwhile the most ardent Jansenists had followed Quesnel to Holland. +Here they met with a warm welcome from the Dutch Catholic body, which +had always been in close sympathy with Jansenism, although without +regarding itself as formally pledged to the _Augustinus_. But it had +broken loose from Rome in 1702, and was now organizing itself into an +independent church (see UTRECHT). The Jansenists who remained in France +had meanwhile fallen on evil days. Persecution usually begets hysteria +in its victims; and the more extravagant members of the party were far +advanced on the road which leads to apocalyptic prophecy and "speaking +with tongues." About 1728 the "miracles of St Médard" became the talk of +Paris. This was the cemetery where was buried François de Pâris, a +young Jansenist deacon of singularly holy life, and a perfervid +opponent of the _Unigenitus_. All sorts of miraculous cures were +believed to have been worked at his tomb, until the government closed +the cemetery in 1732. This gave rise to the famous epigram: + + _De par le roi, défense à Dieu + De faire miracle en ce lieu._ + +On the miracles soon followed the rise of the so-called Convulsionaries. +These worked themselves up, mainly by the use of frightful +self-tortures, into a state of frenzy, in which they prophesied and +cured diseases. They were eventually disowned by the more reputable +Jansenists, and were severely repressed by the police. But in 1772 they +were still important enough for Diderot to enter the field against them. +Meanwhile genuine Jansenism survived in many country parsonages and +convents, and led to frequent quarrels with the authorities. Only one of +its latter-day disciples, however, rose to real eminence; this was the +Abbé Henri Grégoire, who played a considerable part in the French +Revolution. A few small Jansenist congregations still survive in France; +and others have been started in connexion with the Old Catholic Church +in Holland. + + LITERATURE.--For the 17th century see the _Port Royal_ of Sainte-Beuve + (5th ed., Paris, 1888) in six volumes. See also H. Reuchlin, + _Geschichte von Port Royal_ (2 vols., Hamburg, 1839-1844), and C. + Beard, _Port Royal_ (2 vols., London, 1861). No satisfactory Roman + Catholic history of the subject exists, though reference may be made + to Count Joseph de Maistre's _De l'église gallicane_ (last ed., Lyons, + 1881). On the Jansenism of the 18th century no single work exists, + though much information will be found in the _Gallican Church_ of + Canon Jervis (2 vols., London, 1872). For a series of excellent + sketches see also Seche, _Les Derniers Jansénistes_ (3 vols., Paris, + 1891). A more detailed list of books bearing on the subject will be + found in the 5th volume of the _Cambridge Modern History_; and J. + Paquier's _Le Jansénisme_ (Paris, 1909) may also be consulted. + (St C.) + + + + +JANSSEN, or JANSEN (sometimes JOHNSON), CORNELIUS (1593-1664), Flemish +painter, was apparently born in London, and baptized on the 14th of +October 1593. There seems no reason to suppose, as was formerly stated, +that he was born at Amsterdam. He worked in England from 1618 to 1643, +and afterwards retired to Holland, working at Middelburg, Amsterdam, The +Hague and Utrecht, and dying at one of the last two places about 1664. +In England he was patronized by James I. and the court, and under +Charles I. he continued to paint the numerous portraits which adorn many +English mansions and collections. Janssen's pictures, chiefly portraits, +are distinguished by clear colouring, delicate touch, good taste and +careful finish. He generally painted upon panel, and often worked on a +small scale, sometimes producing replicas of his larger works. A +characteristic of his style is the very dark background, which throws +the carnations of his portraits into rounded relief. In all probability +his earliest portrait (1618) was that of John Milton as a boy of ten. + + + + +JANSSEN, JOHANNES (1820-1891), German historian, was born at Xanten on +the 10th of April 1829, and was educated as a Roman Catholic at Münster, +Louvain, Bonn and Berlin, afterwards becoming a teacher of history at +Frankfort-on-the-Main. He was ordained priest in 1860; became a member +of the Prussian Chamber of Deputies in 1875; and in 1880 was made +domestic prelate to the pope and apostolic pronotary. He died at +Frankfort on the 24th of December 1891. Janssen was a stout champion of +the Ultramontane party in the Roman Catholic Church. His great work is +his _Geschichte des deutschen Volkes seit dem Ausgang des Mittelalters_ +(8 vols., Freiburg, 1878-1894). In this book he shows himself very +hostile to the Reformation, and attempts to prove that the Protestants +were responsible for the general unrest in Germany during the 16th and +17th centuries. The author's partisanship led to some controversy, and +Janssen wrote _An meine Kritiker_ (Freiburg, 1882) and _Ein zweites Wort +an meine Kritiker_ (Freiburg, 1883) in reply to the _Janssens Geschichte +des deutschen Volkes_ (Munich, 1883) of M. Lenz, and other criticisms. + + The _Geschichte_, which has passed through numerous editions, has been + continued and improved by Ludwig Pastor, and the greater part of it + has been translated into English by M. A. Mitchell and A. M. Christie + (London, 1896, fol.). Of his other works perhaps the most important + are: the editing of _Frankfurts Reichskorrespondenz, 1376-1519_ + (Freiburg, 1863-1872); and of the _Leben, Briefe und kleinere + Schriften_ of his friend J. F. Böhmer (Leipzig, 1868); a monograph, + _Schiller als Historiker_ (Freiburg, 1863); and _Zeit- und + Lebensbilder_ (Freiburg, 1875). + + See L. Pastor, _Johannes Janssen_ (Freiburg, 1893); F. Meister, + _Erinnerung an Johannes Janssen_ (Frankfort, 1896); Schwann, _Johannes + Janssen und die Geschichte der deutschen Reformation_ (Munich, 1892). + + + + +JANSSEN, PIERRE JULES CÉSAR (1824-1907), French astronomer, was born in +Paris on the 22nd of February 1824, and studied mathematics and physics +at the faculty of sciences. He taught at the lycée Charlemagne in 1853, +and in the school of architecture 1865-1871, but his energies were +mainly devoted to various scientific missions entrusted to him. Thus in +1857 he went to Peru in order to determine the magnetic equator; in +1861-1862 and 1864, he studied telluric absorption in the solar spectrum +in Italy and Switzerland; in 1867 he carried out optical and magnetic +experiments at the Azores; he successfully observed both transits of +Venus, that of 1874 in Japan, that of 1882 at Oran in Algeria; and he +took part in a long series of solar eclipse-expeditions, e.g. to Trani +(1867), Guntoor (1868), Algiers (1870), Siam (1875), the Caroline +Islands (1883), and to Alcosebre in Spain (1905). To see the eclipse of +1870 he escaped from besieged Paris in a balloon. At the great Indian +eclipse of 1868 he demonstrated the gaseous nature of the red +prominences, and devised a method of observing them under ordinary +daylight conditions. One main purpose of his spectroscopic inquiries was +to answer the question whether the sun contains oxygen or not. An +indispensable preliminary was the virtual elimination of +oxygen-absorption in the earth's atmosphere, and his bold project of +establishing an observatory on the top of Mont Blanc was prompted by a +perception of the advantages to be gained by reducing the thickness of +air through which observations have to be made. This observatory, the +foundations of which were fixed in the snow that appears to cover the +summit to a depth of ten metres, was built in September 1893, and +Janssen, in spite of his sixty-nine years, made the ascent and spent +four days taking observations. In 1875 he was appointed director of the +new astrophysical observatory established by the French government at +Meudon, and set on foot there in 1876 the remarkable series of solar +photographs collected in his great _Atlas de photographies solaires_ +(1904). The first volume of the _Annales de l'observatoire de Meudon_ +was published by him in 1896. He died at Paris on the 23rd of December +1907. + + See A. M. Clerke, _Hist. of Astr. during the 19th Century_ (1903); H. + Macpherson, _Astronomers of To-Day_ (1905). + + + + +JANSSENS (or JANSENS), VICTOR HONORIUS (1664-1739), Flemish painter, was +born at Brussels. After seven years in the studio of an obscure painter +named Volders, he spent four years in the household of the duke of +Holstein. The next eleven years Janssens passed in Rome, where he took +eager advantage of all the aids to artistic study, and formed an +intimacy with Tempesta, in whose landscapes he frequently inserted +figures. Rising into popularity, he painted a large number of cabinet +historical scenes; but, on his return to Brussels, the claims of his +increasing family restricted him almost entirely to the larger and more +lucrative size of picture, of which very many of the churches and +palaces of the Netherlands contain examples. In 1718 Janssens was +invited to Vienna, where he stayed three years, and was made painter to +the emperor. The statement that he visited England is based only upon +the fact that certain fashionable interiors of the time in that country +have been attributed to him. Janssen's colouring was good, his touch +delicate and his taste refined. + + + + +JANSSENS (or JANSENS) VAN NUYSSEN, ABRAHAM (1567-1632), Flemish painter, +was born at Antwerp in 1567. He studied under Jan Snellinck, was a +"master" in 1602, and in 1607 was dean of the master-painters. Till the +appearance of Rubens he was considered perhaps the best historical +painter of his time. The styles of the two artists are not unlike. In +correctness of drawing Janssens excelled his great contemporary; in +bold composition and in treatment of the nude he equalled him; but in +faculty of colour and in general freedom of disposition and touch he +fell far short. A master of chiaroscuro, he gratified his taste for +strong contrasts of light and shade in his torchlights and similar +effects. Good examples of this master are to be seen in the Antwerp +museum and the Vienna gallery. The stories of his jealousy of Rubens and +of his dissolute life are quite unfounded. He died at Antwerp in 1632. + + + + +JANUARIUS, ST, or SAN GENNARO, the patron saint of Naples. According to +the legend, he was bishop of Benevento, and flourished towards the close +of the 3rd century. On the outbreak of the persecution by Diocletian and +Maximian, he was taken to Nola and brought before Timotheus, governor of +Campania, on account of his profession of the Christian religion. After +various assaults upon his constancy, he was sentenced to be cast into +the fiery furnace, through which he passed wholly unharmed. On the +following day, along with a number of fellow martyrs, he was exposed to +the fury of wild beasts, which, however, laid themselves down in tame +submission at his feet. Timotheus, again pronouncing sentence of death, +was struck with blindness, but immediately healed by the powerful +intercession of the saint, a miracle which converted nearly five +thousand men on the spot. The ungrateful judge, only roused to further +fury by these occurrences, caused the execution of Januarius by the +sword to be forthwith carried out. The body was ultimately removed by +the inhabitants of Naples to that city, where the relic became very +famous for its miracles, especially in counteracting the more dangerous +eruptions of Vesuvius. Whatever the difficulties raised by his _Acta_, +the cult of St Januarius, bishop and martyr, is attested historically at +Naples as early as the 5th century (_Biblioth. hagiog. latina_, No. +6558). Two phials preserved in the cathedral are believed to contain the +blood of the martyr. The relic is shown twice a year--in May and +September. On these occasions the substance contained in the phial +liquefies, and the Neapolitans see in this phenomenon a supernatural +manifestation. The "miracle of St Januarius" did not occur before the +middle of the 15th century. + +A great number of saints of the name of Januarius are mentioned in the +martyrologies. The best-known are the Roman martyr (festival, the 10th +of July), whose epitaph was written by Pope Damasus (De Rossi, +_Bullettino_, p. 17, 1863), and the martyr of Cordova, who forms along +with Faustus and Martialis the group designated by Prudentius +(_Peristephanon_, iv. 20) by the name of _tres coronae_. The festival of +these martyrs is celebrated on the 13th of October. + + See _Acta sanctorum_, September, vi. 761-891; G. Scherillo, _Esame di + un codice greco pubblicato nel tomo secondo della bibliotheca + casinensis_ (Naples, 1876); G. Taglialatela, _Memorie storico-critiche + del culto del sangue di S. Gennaro_ (Naples, 1893), which contains + many facts, but little criticism; G. Albini, _Sulla mobilità dei + liquidi viscosi non omogenei_ (_Società reale di Napoli, Rendiconti_, + 2nd series, vol. iv., 1890); _Acta sanctorum_, October, vi. 187-193. + (H. De.) + + + + +JANUARY, the first month in the modern calendar, consisting of +thirty-one days. The name (Lat. _Januarius_) is derived from the +two-faced Roman god Janus, to whom the month was dedicated. As +doorkeeper of heaven, as looking both into the past and the future, and +as being essentially the deity who busied himself with the beginnings of +all enterprises, he was appropriately made guardian of the fortunes of +the new year. The consecration of the month took place by an offering of +meal, salt, frankincense and wine, each of which was new. The +Anglo-Saxons called January _Wulfmonath_, in allusion to the fact that +hunger then made the wolves bold enough to come into the villages. The +principal festivals of the month are: New Year's Day; Feast of the +Circumcision; Epiphany; Twelfth-Day; and Conversion of St Paul (see +CALENDAR). + + + + +JANUS, in Roman mythology one of the principal Italian deities. The name +is generally explained as the masculine form of Diana (Jana), and Janus +as originally a god of light and day, who gradually became the god of +the beginning and origin of all things. According to some, however, he +is simply the god of doorways (_januae_) and in this connexion is the +patron of all entrances and beginnings. According to Mommsen, he was +"the spirit of opening," and the double-head was connected with the gate +that opened both ways. Others, attributing to him an Etruscan origin, +regard him as the god of the vault of heaven, which the Etruscan arch is +supposed to resemble. The rationalists explained him as an old king of +Latium, who built a citadel for himself on the Janiculum. It was +believed that his worship, which was said to have existed as a local +cult before the foundation of Rome, was introduced there by Romulus, and +that a temple was dedicated to him by Numa. This temple, in reality only +an arch or gateway (_Janus geminus_) facing east and west, stood at the +north-east end of the forum. It was open during war and closed during +peace (Livy i. 19); it was shut only four times before the Christian +era. A possible explanation is, that it was considered a bad omen to +shut the city gates while the citizens were outside fighting for the +state; it was necessary that they should have free access to the city, +whether they returned victorious or defeated. Similarly, the door of a +private house was kept open while the members of the family were away, +but when all were at home it was closed to keep out intruders. There was +also a temple of Janus near the theatre of Marcellus, in the forum +olitorium, erected by Gaius Duilius (Tacitus, _Ann._ ii. 49), if not +earlier. + +The beginning of the day (hence his epithet Matutinus), of the month, +and of the year (January) was sacred to Janus; on the 9th of January the +festival called Agonia was celebrated in his honour. He was invoked +before any other god at the beginning of any important undertaking; his +priest was the Rex Sacrorum, the representative of the ancient king in +his capacity as religious head of the state. All gateways, housedoors +and entrances generally, were under his protection; he was the inventor +of agriculture (hence Consivius, "he who sows or plants"), of civil +laws, of the coining of money and of religious worship. He was +worshipped on the Janiculum as the protector of trade and shipping; his +head is found on the as, together with the prow of a ship. He is usually +represented on the earliest coins with two bearded faces, looking in +opposite directions; in the time of Hadrian the number of faces is +increased to four. In his capacity as porter or doorkeeper he holds a +staff in his right hand, and a key (or keys) in his left; as such he is +called Patulcius (opener) and Clusius (closer). His titles Curiatius, +Patricius, Quirinus originate in his worship in the gentes, the curiae +and the state, and have no reference to any special functions or +characteristics. In late times, he is both bearded and unbearded; in +place of the staff and keys, the fingers of his right hand show the +number 300 (CCC.), those of his left the number of the remaining days of +the year (LXV.). According to A. B. Cook (_Classical Review_, xviii. +367), Janus is only another form of Jupiter, the name under which he was +worshipped by the pre-Latin (aboriginal) inhabitants of Rome; after +their conquest by the Italians, Janus and Jana took their place as +independent divinities by the side of the Italian Jupiter and Juno. He +considers it probable that the three-headed Janus was a triple oak-god +worshipped in the form of two vertical beams and a cross-bar (such as +the _tigillum sororium_, for which see HORATII); hence also the door, +consisting of two lintels and side-posts, was sacred to Janus. The +three-headed type may have been the original, from which the two-headed +and four-headed types were developed. J. G. Frazer (_The Early History +of the Kingship_, pp. 214, 285), who also identifies Janus with Jupiter, +is of opinion that Janus was not originally a doorkeeper, but that the +door was called after him, not vice versa. _Janua_ may be an adjective, +_janua foris_ meaning a door with a symbol of Janus close by the chief +entrance, to serve as a protection for the house; then _janua_ alone +came to mean a door generally, with or without the symbol of Janus. The +double head may have been due to the desire to make the god look both +ways for greater protection. By J. Rhys (_Hibbert Lectures_, 1886, pp. +82, 94) Janus is identified with the three-faced (sometimes +three-headed) Celtic god Cernunnus, a chthonian divinity, compared by +Rhys with the Teutonic Heimdal, the warder of the gods of the +under-world; like Janus, Cernunnus and Heimdal were considered to be the +fons et origo of all things. + + See S. Linde, _De Jano summo romanorum deo_ (Lund, 1891); J. S. + Speÿer, "Le Dieu romain Janus," in _Revue de l'histoire des religions_ + (xxvi., 1892); G. Wissowa, _Religion und Kultus der Römer_ (1902); W. + Deecke, _Etruskische Forschungen_, vol. ii.; W. Warde Fowler, _The + Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic_ (1899), pp. 282-290; + articles in W. H. Roscher's _Lexikon der Mythologie_ and Daremberg and + Saglio's _Dictionnaire des Antiquités_; J. Toutain, _Études de + Mythologie_ (1909). On other jani (arched passages) in Rome, + frequented by business men and money changers, see O. Richter, + _Topographie der Stadt Rom_ (1901). (J. H. F.) + + + + +JAORA, a native state of Central India, in the Malwa agency. It consists +of two isolated tracts, between Ratlam and Neemuch Area, with the +dependencies of Piplauda and Pant Piplauda, 568 sq. m. Pop. (1901), +84,202. The estimated revenue is £57,000; tribute, £9000. The chief, +whose title is nawab, is a Mahommedan of Afghan descent. The state was +confirmed by the British government in 1818 by the Treaty of Mandsaur. +Nawab Mahommed Ismail, who died in 1895, was an honorary major in the +British army. His son, Iftikhar Ali Khan, a minor at his accession, was +educated in the Daly College at Indore, with a British officer for his +tutor, and received powers of administration in 1906. The chief crops +are millets, cotton, maize and poppy. The last supplies a large part of +the Malwa opium of commerce. The town of JAORA is on the Rajputana-Malwa +railway, 20 m. N. of Ratlam. Pop. (1901), 23,854. It is well laid out, +with many good modern buildings, and has a high school and dispensary. +To celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, the Victoria Institute +and a zenana dispensary were opened in 1898. + + + + +JAPAN, an empire of eastern Asia, and one of the great powers of the +world. The following article is divided for convenience into ten +sections:--I. GEOGRAPHY; II. THE PEOPLE; III. LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE; +IV. ART; V. ECONOMIC CONDITIONS; VI. GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION; VII. +RELIGION; VIII. FOREIGN INTERCOURSE; IX. DOMESTIC HISTORY; X. THE CLAIM +OF JAPAN. + + +I.--GEOGRAPHY + + Position and Extent. + +The continent of Asia stretches two arms into the Pacific Ocean, +Kamchatka in the north and Malacca in the south, between which lies a +long cluster of islands constituting the Japanese empire, which covers +37° 14´ of longitude and 29° 11´ of latitude. On the extreme north are +the Kuriles (called by the Japanese _Chishima_, or the "myriad isles"), +which extend to 156° 32´ E. and to 50° 56´ N.; on the extreme south is +Formosa (called by the Japanese _Taiwan_), which extends to 122° 6´ E., +and to 21° 45´ N. There are six large islands, namely Sakhalin (called +by the Japanese _Karafuto_); Yezo or Ezo (which with the Kuriles is +designated _Hokkaido_, or the north-sea district); Nippon (the "origin +of the sun"), which is the main island; Shikoku (the "four provinces"), +which lies on the east of Nippon; Kiushiu or Kyushu (the "nine +provinces"), which lies on the south of Nippon, and Formosa, which forms +the most southerly link of the chain. Formosa and the Pescadores were +ceded to Japan by China after the war of 1894-1895, and the southern +half of Sakhalin--the part south of 50° N.--was added to Japan by +cession from Russia in 1905. Korea, annexed in August 1910, is +separately noticed. + + _Coast-line._--The following table shows the numbers, the lengths of + coast-line, and the areas of the various groups of islands, only those + being indicated that have a coast-line of at least 1 _ri_ (2½ m.), or + that, though smaller, are inhabited; except in the case of Formosa and + the Pescadores, where the whole numbers are given:-- + + Length of Area + Number. coast in in square + miles. miles. + + Nippon 1 4,765.03 99,373.57 + Isles adjacent to Nippon 167 1,275.09 470.30 + Shikoku 1 1,100.85 6,461.39 + Isles adjacent to Shikoku 75 548.12 175.40 + Kiushiu 1 2,101.28 13,778.68 + Isles adjacent to Kiushiu 150 2,405.06 1,821.85 + Yezo 1 1,423.32 30,148.41 + Isles adjacent to Yezo 13 110.24 30.51 + Sakhalin (Karafuto) 1 Unsurveyed 12,487.64 + Sado 1 130.05 335.92 + Okishima 1 182.27 130.40 + Isles adjacent to Okishima 1 3.09 0.06 + Awaji 1 94.43 217.83 + Isles adjacent to Awaji 1 5.32 0.83 + Iki 1 86.47 50.96 + Isles adjacent to Iki 1 4.41 0.47 + Tsushima 1 409.23 261.72 + Isles adjacent to Tsushima 5 118.80 4.58 + Riukiu (or Luchu) Islands 55 768.74 935.18 + Kuriles (Chishima) 31 1,496.23 6,159.42 + Bonin (Ogasawara Islands) 20 174.65 26.82 + Taiwan (Formosa) 1 731.31 13,429.31 + Isles adjacent to Formosa 7 128.32 Not surveyed + Pescadores (Hoko-to) 12 98.67 85.50 + --- --------- ---------- + Totals 549 18,160.98 173,786.75 + + If the various smaller islands be included, a total of over 3000 is + reached, but there has not been any absolutely accurate enumeration. + + [Illustration: Map of Japan and Korea.] + + It will be observed that the coast-line is very long in proportion to + the area, the ratio being 1 m. of coast to every 9.5 in. of area. The + Pacific Ocean, which washes the eastern shores, moulds their outline + into much greater diversity than does the Sea of Japan which washes + the western shores. Thus the Pacific sea-board measures 10,562 m. + against 2887 m. for that of the Japan Sea. In depth of water, too, the + advantage is on the Pacific side. There the bottom slopes very + abruptly, descending precipitously at a point not far from the + north-east coast of the main island, where soundings have shown 4655 + fathoms. This, the deepest sea-bed in the world, is called the + Tuscarora Deep, after the name of the United States' man-of-war which + made the survey. The configuration seems to point to a colossal crater + under the ocean, and many of the earthquakes which visit Japan appear + to have their origin in this submarine region. On the other hand, the + average depth of the Japan Sea is only 1200 fathoms, and its maximum + depth is 3200. The east coast, from Cape Shiriya (Shiriyazaki) in the + north to Cape Inuboye (Inuboesaki) near Tokyo Bay, though abounding in + small indentations, has only two large bays, those of Sendai and + Matsushima; but southward from Tokyo Bay to Cape Satta (Satanomisaki) + in Kiushiu there are many capacious inlets which offer excellent + anchorage, as the Gulf of Sagami (Sagaminada), the Bays of Suruga + (Surugawan), Ise (Isenumi) and Osaka, the Kii Channel, the Gulf of + Tosa (Tosonada), &c. Opening into both the Pacific and the Sea of + Japan and separating Shikoku and Kiushiu from the main island as well + as from each other, is the celebrated Inland Sea, one of the most + picturesque sheets of water in the world. Its surface measures 1325 + sq. m.; it has a length of 255 m. and a maximum width of 56 m.; its + coast-lines aggregate 700 m.; its depth is nowhere more than 65 + fathoms, and it is studded with islands which present scenery of the + most diverse and beautiful character. There are four narrow avenues + connecting this remarkable body of water with the Pacific and the + Japan Sea; that on the west, called Shimonoseki Strait, has a width of + 3000 yds., that on the south, known as Hayamoto Strait, is 8 m. + across; and the two on the north, Yura and Naruto Straits, measure + 3000 and 1500 yds. respectively. It need scarcely be said that these + restricted approaches give little access to the storms which disturb + the seas outside. More broken into bays and inlets than any other part + of the coast is the western shore of Kiushiu. Here three + promontories--Nomo, Shimabara and Kizaki--enclose a large bay having + on its shores Nagasaki, the great naval port of Sasebo, and other + anchorages. On the south of Kiushiu the Bay of Kagoshima has + historical interest, and on the west are the bays of Ariakeno-ura and + Yatsushiro. To the north of Nagasaki are the bays of Hakata, Karatsu + and Imari. Between this coast and the southern extremity of the Korean + peninsula are situated the islands of Iki and Tsushima, the latter + being only 30 m. distant from the peninsula. Passing farther north, + the shoreline of the main island along the Japan Sea is found to be + comparatively straight and monotonous, there being only one noteworthy + indentation, that of Wakasa-wan, where are situated the naval port of + Maizuru and the harbour of Tsuruga, the Japanese point of + communication with the Vladivostok terminus of the Trans-Asian + railway. From this harbour to Osaka Japan's waist measures only 77 m., + and as the great lake of Biwa and some minor sheets of water break the + interval, a canal may be dug to join the Pacific and the Sea of Japan. + Yezo is not rich in anchorages. Uchiura (Volcano Bay), Nemuro + (Walfisch) Bay and Ishikari Bay are the only remarkable inlets. As for + Formosa, the peculiarity of its outline is that the eastern coast + falls precipitously into deep water, while the western slopes slowly + to shelving bottoms and shoals. The Pescadores Islands afford the best + anchorage in this part of Japan. + + _Mountains._--The Japanese islands are traversed from north to south + by a range of mountains which sends out various lateral branches. + Lofty summits are separated by comparatively low passes, which lie at + the level of crystalline rocks and schists constituting the original + uplands upon which the summits have been piled by volcanic action. The + scenery among the mountains is generally soft. Climatic agencies have + smoothed and modified everything rugged or abrupt, until an impression + of gentle undulation rather than of grandeur is suggested. Nowhere is + the region of eternal snow reached, and masses of foliage enhance the + gentle aspect of the scenery and glorify it in autumn with tints of + striking brilliancy. Mountain alternates with valley, so that not more + than one-eighth of the country's entire area is cultivable. + + + Fuji. + + The king of Japanese mountains is Fuji-yama or Fuji-san (peerless + mount), of which the highest point (Ken-ga-mine) is 12,395 ft. above + sea-level. The remarkable grace of this mountain's curve--an inverted + catenary--makes it one of the most beautiful in the world, and has + obtained for it a prominent place in Japanese decorative art. Great + streams of lava flowed from the crater in ancient times. The course of + one is still visible to a distance of 15 m. from the summit, but the + rest are covered, for the most part, with deep deposits of ashes and + scoriae. On the south Fuji slopes unbroken to the sea, but on the + other three sides the plain from which it rises is surrounded by + mountains, among which, on the north and west, a series of most + picturesque lakes has been formed in consequence of the rivers having + been dammed by ashes ejected from Fuji's crater. To a height of some + 1500 ft. the slopes of the mountain are cultivated; a grassy moorland + stretches up the next 2500 ft.; then follows a forest, the upper edge + of which climbs to an altitude of nearly 8000 ft., and finally there + is a wide area of ashes and scoriae. There is entire absence of the + Alpine plants found abundantly on the summits of other high mountains + in Japan, a fact due, doubtless, to the comparatively recent activity + of the volcano. The ascent of Fuji presents no difficulties. A + traveller can reach the usual point of departure, Gotemba, by rail + from Yokohama, and thence the ascent and descent may be made in one + day by a pedestrian. + + + The Japanese Alps. + + The provinces of Hida and Etchiu are bounded on the east by a chain of + mountains including, or having in their immediate vicinity, the + highest peaks in Japan after Fuji. Six of these summits rise to a + height of 9000 ft. or upwards, and constitute the most imposing + assemblage of mountains in the country. The ridge runs due north and + south through 60 to 70 m., and has a width of 5 to 10 m. It is mostly + of granite, only two of the mountains--Norikura and Tateyama--showing + clear traces of volcanic origin. Its lower flanks are clothed with + forests of beech, conifers and oak. Farther south, in the same range, + stands Ontake (10,450 ft.), the second highest mountain in Japan + proper (as distinguished from Formosa); and other remarkable though + not so lofty peaks mark the same regions. This grand group of + mountains has been well called the "Alps of Japan," and a good account + of them may be found in The _Japanese Alps_ (1896) by the Rev. W. + Weston. On the summit of Ontake are eight large and several small + craters, and there also may be seen displays of trance and "divine + possession," such as are described by Mr Percival Lowell in _Occult + Japan_ (1895). + + + The Nikko Mountains. + + Even more picturesque, though less lofty, than the Alps of Japan, are + the Nikko mountains, enclosing the mausolea of the two greatest of the + Tokugawa _shoguns_. The highest of these are Shirane-san (7422 ft.), + Nantai-san (8169 ft.), Nyohô-zan (8100 ft.), and Omanago (7546 ft.). + They are clothed with magnificent vegetation, and everywhere they echo + the voices of waterfalls and rivulets. + + + Mountains of the North. + + In the north of the main island there are no peaks of remarkable + height. The best known are Chiokai-zan, called "Akita-Fuji" (the Fuji + of the Akita province), a volcano 7077 ft. high, which was active as + late as 1861; Ganju-san (6791 ft.), called also "Nambu-Fuji" or + Iwate-zan, remarkable for the beauty of its logarithmic curves; + Iwaki-san (5230 ft.), known as Tsugaru-Fuji, and said by some to be + even more imposing than Fuji itself; and the twin mountains Gassan + (6447 ft.) and Haguro-san (5600 ft.). A little farther south, + enclosing the fertile plain of Aizu (Aizu-taira, as it is called) + several important peaks are found, among them being Iide-san (6332 + ft.); Azuma-yama (7733 ft.), which, after a long interval of + quiescence, has given many evidences of volcanic activity during + recent years; Nasu-dake (6296 ft.), an active volcano; and Bandai-san + (6037 ft.). A terrible interest attaches to the last-named mountain, + for, after having remained quiet so long as to lull the inhabitants of + the neighbouring district into complete security, it suddenly burst + into fierce activity on the 15th of July 1888, discharging a vast + avalanche of earth and rock, which dashed down its slopes like an + inundation, burying four hamlets, partially destroying seven villages, + killing 461 people and devastating an area of 27 sq. m. + + + Mountains of Kozuke, Kai and Shinano. + + In the province of Kozuke, which belongs to the central part of the + main island, the noteworthy mountains are Asama-yama (8136 ft.), one + of the best known and most violently active volcanoes of Japan; + Akagi-san, a circular range of peaks surrounding the basin of an old + crater and rising to a height of 6210 ft.; the Haruna group, + celebrated for scenic beauties, and Myogi-san, a cluster of pinnacles + which, though not rising higher than 3880 ft., offer scenery which + dispels the delusion that nature as represented in the classical + pictures (_bunjingwa_) of China and Japan exists only in the artist's + imagination. Farther south, in the province of Kai (Koshiu), and + separating two great rivers, the Fuji-kawa and the Tenriu-gawa, there + lies a range of hills with peaks second only to those of the Japanese + Alps spoken of above. The principal elevations in this range are + Shirane-san--with three summits, Nodori (9970 ft.), Ai-no-take (10,200 + ft.) and Kaigane (10,330 ft.)--and Hoozan (9550 ft.). It will be + observed that all the highest mountains of Japan form a species of + belt across the widest part of the main island, beginning on the west + with the Alps of Etchiu, Hida and Shinano, and ending on the east with + Fuji-yama. In all the regions of the main island southward of this + belt the only mountains of conspicuous altitude are Omine (6169 ft.) + and Odai-gaharazan (5540 ft.) in Yamato and Daisen or Oyama (5951 ft.) + in Hoki. + + + Mountains of Shikoku. + + The island of Shikoku has no mountains of notable magnitude. The + highest is Ishizuchi-zan (7727 ft.), but there are several peaks + varying from 3000 to 6000 ft. + + + Mountains of Kiushiu. + + Kiushiu, though abounding in mountain chains, independent or + connected, is not remarkable for lofty peaks. In the neighbourhood of + Nagasaki, over the celebrated solfataras of Unzen-take (called also + Onsen) stands an extinct volcano, whose summit, Fugen-dake, is 4865 + ft. high. More notable is Aso-take, some 20 m. from Kumamoto; for, + though the highest of its five peaks has an altitude of only 5545 ft., + it boasts the largest crater in the world, with walls nearly 2000 ft. + high and a basin from 10 to 14 m. in diameter. Aso-take is still an + active volcano, but its eruptions during recent years have been + confined to ashes and dust. Only two other mountains in Kiushiu need + be mentioned--a volcano (3743 ft.) on the island Sakura-jima, in the + extreme south; and Kirishima-yama (5538 ft.), on the boundary of + Hiuga, a mountain specially sacred in Japanese eyes, because on its + eastern peak (Takachiho-dake) the god Ninigi descended as the + forerunner of the first Japanese sovereign, Jimmu. + + + Volcanoes. + + Among the mountains of Japan there are three volcanic ranges, namely, + that of the Kuriles, that of Fuji, and that of Kirishima. Fuji is the + most remarkable volcanic peak. The Japanese regard it as a sacred + mountain, and numbers of pilgrims make the ascent in midsummer. From + 500 to 600 ft. is supposed to be the depth of the crater. There are + neither sulphuric exhalations nor escapes of steam at present, and it + would seem that this great volcano is permanently extinct. But + experience in other parts of Japan shows that a long quiescent crater + may at any moment burst into disastrous activity. Within the period of + Japan's written history several eruptions are recorded the last having + been in 1707, when the whole summit burst into flame, rocks were + shattered, ashes fell to a depth of several inches even in Yedo + (Tokyo), 60 m. distant, and the crater poured forth streams of lava. + Among still active volcanoes the following are the best known:-- + + Name of Volcano. + Height in feet. Remarks. + + Tarumai (Yezo) 2969. + Forms southern wall of a large ancient crater now occupied by a lake + (Shikotsu). A little steam still issues from several smaller cones + on the summit of the ridge, as well as from one, called Eniwa, on + the northern side. + + Noboribetsu (Yezo) 1148. + In a state of continuous activity, with frequent detonations and + rumblings. The crater is divided by a wooded rock-wall. The northern + part is occupied by a steaming lake, while the southern part + contains numerous solfataras and boiling springs. + + Komagatake (Yezo) 3822. + The ancient crater-wall, with a lofty pinnacle on the western side, + contains a low new cone with numerous steaming rifts and vents. In a + serious eruption in 1856 the S.E. flank of the mountain and the + country side in that direction were denuded of trees. + + Esan 2067. + A volcano-promontory at the Pacific end of the Tsugaru Strait: a + finely formed cone surrounded on three sides by the sea, the crater + breached on the land side. The central vent displays considerable + activity, while the rocky walls are stained with red, yellow and + white deposits from numerous minor vents. + + Agatsuma (Iwaki) 5230. + Erupted in 1903 and killed two geologists. + + Bandai-san (Iwashiro) 6037. + Erupted in 1888 after a long period of quiescence. The outbreak + was preceded by an earthquake of some severity, after which about 20 + explosions took place. A huge avalanche of earth and rocks buried + the Nagase Valley with its villages and inhabitants, and devastated + an area of over 27 sq. m. The number of lives lost was 461; four + hamlets were completely entombed with their inhabitants and cattle; + seven villages were partially wrecked; forests were levelled or the + trees entirely denuded of bark; rivers were blocked up, and lakes + were formed. The lip of the fracture is now marked by a line of + steaming vents. + + Azuma-yama (Fukushima) 7733. + Long considered extinct, but has erupted several times since 1893, + the last explosion having been in 1900, when 82 sulphur-diggers were + killed or injured; ashes were thrown to a distance of 5 m., + accumulating in places to a depth of 5 ft.; and a crater 300 ft. in + diameter, and as many in depth, was formed on the E. side of the + mountain. This crater is still active. The summit-crater is occupied + by a beautiful lake. On the Fukushima (E.) side of the volcano rises + a large parasitic cone, extinct. + + Nasu (Tochigi) 6296. + Has both a summit and a lateral crater, which are apparently + connected and perpetually emitting steam. At or about the main vents + are numerous solfataras. The whole of the upper part of the cone + consists of grey highly acidic lava. At the base is a thermal + spring, where baths have existed since the 7th century. + + Shirane (Nikko) 7422. + The only remaining active vent of the once highly volcanic Nikko + district. Eruption in 1889. + + Shirane (Kai) 10,330. + Eruption in 1905, when the main crater was enlarged to a length of + 3000 ft. It is divided into three parts, separated by walls, and + each containing a lake, of which the middle one emits steam and the + two others are cold. The central lake, during the periods of + eruption (which are frequent), displays a geyser-like activity. + These lakes contain free sulphuric acid, mixed with iron and alum. + + Unzen (Hizen) 4865. + A triple-peaked volcano in the solfatara stage, extinct at the + summit, but displaying considerable activity at its base in the form + of numerous fumaroles and boiling sulphur springs. + + Aso-take (Higo) 5545. + Remarkable for the largest crater in the world. It measures 10 m. by + 15, and rises almost symmetrically to a height of about 2000 ft., + with only one break through which the river Shira flows. The centre + is occupied by a mass of peaks, on the W. flank of which lies the + modern active crater. Two of the five compartments into which it is + divided by walls of deeply striated volcanic ash are constantly + emitting steam, while a new vent displaying great activity has been + opened at the base of the cone on the south side. Eruptions have + been recorded since the earliest days of Japanese history. In 1884 + the ejected dust and ashes devastated farmlands through large areas. + An outbreak in 1894 produced numerous rifts in the inner walls from + which steam and smoke have issued ever since. + + Kaimon (Kagoshima Bay) 3041. + One of the most beautiful volcanoes of Japan, known as the + Satsuma-Fuji. The symmetry of the cone is marred by a convexity on + the seaward (S.) side. This volcano is all but extinct. + + Sakura-jima (Kagomshima Bay) 3743. + An island-volcano, with several parasitic cones (extinct), on the N. + and E. sides. At the summit are two deep craters, the southern of + which emits steam. Grass grows, however, to the very edges of the + crater. The island is celebrated for thermal springs, oranges and + _daikon_ (radishes), which sometimes grow to a weight of 70 lb. + + Kiri-shima (Kagoshima Bay) 5538. + A volcanic range of which Takachiho, the only active cone, forms the + terminal (S.E.) peak. The crater, situated on the S.W. side of the + volcano, lies some 500 ft. below the summit-peak. It is of + remarkably regular formation, and the floor is pierced by a number + of huge fumaroles whence issue immense volumes of steam. + + Izuno Oshima (Vries Island) (Izu) 2461. + The volcano on this island is called Mihara. There is a double + crater, the outer being almost complete. The diameter of the outer + crater, within which rises the modern cone to a height of 500 ft. + above the surrounding floor, is about 2 m.; while the present + crater, which displays incessant activity, has itself a diameter of + ¼ m. + + Asama (Ise) 8136. + The largest active volcano in Japan. An eruption in 1783, with a + deluge of lava, destroyed an extensive forest and overwhelmed + several villages. The present cone is the third, portions of two + concentric crater rings remaining. The present crater is remarkable + for the absolute perpendicularity of its walls, and has an immense + depth--from 600 to 800 ft. It is circular, ¾ m. in circumference, + with sides honeycombed and burned to a red hue. + + Some of the above information is based upon Mr. C. E. Bruce-Mitford's + valuable work (see _Geog. Jour._, Feb. 1908, &c.). + + _Earthquakes._--Japan is subject to marked displays of seismic + violence. One steadily exercised influence is constantly at work, for + the shores bordering the Pacific Ocean are slowly though appreciably + rising, while on the side of the Japan Sea a corresponding subsidence + is taking place. Japan also experiences a vast number of petty + vibrations not perceptible without the aid of delicate instruments. + But of earthquakes proper, large or small, she has an exceptional + abundance. Thus in the thirteen years ending in 1897--that is to say, + the first period when really scientific apparatus for recording + purposes was available--she was visited by no fewer than 17,750 + shocks, being an average of something over 3½ daily. The frequency of + these phenomena is in some degree a source of security, for the minor + vibrations are believed to exercise a binding effect by removing weak + cleavages. Nevertheless the annals show that during the three + centuries before 1897 there were 108 earthquakes sufficiently + disastrous to merit historical mention. If the calculation be carried + farther back--as has been done by the seismic disaster investigation + committee of Japan, a body of scientists constantly engaged in + studying these phenomena under government auspices,--it is found that, + since the country's history began to be written in the 8th century + A.D., there have been 2006 major disturbances; but inasmuch as 1489 of + these occurred before the beginning of the Tokugawa administration + (early in the 17th century, and therefore in an era when methods of + recording were comparatively defective), exact details are naturally + lacking. The story, so far as it is known, may be gathered from the + following table:-- + + Date A.D. Region. Houses Deaths. + destroyed. + 684 Southern part of Tosa -- -- (1) + 869 Mutsu -- -- (2) + 1361 Kioto -- -- + 1498 Tokaido -- 2,000(3) + 1569 Bungo -- 700 + 1596 Kioto -- 2,000 + 1605 (31/1) Pacific Coast -- 5,000 + 1611 (27/9) Aizu -- 3,700 + 1614 (2/12) Pacific Coast (N.E.) -- 1,700 + 1662 (16/6) Kioto 5,500 500 + 1666 (2/2) Pacific Coast (N.E.) -- 1,500 + 1694 (19/12) Ugo 2,760 390 + 1703 (30/12) Tokyo 20,162 5,233 + 1707 (28/10) Pacific Coast of Kiushiu + and Shikoku 29,000 4,900 + 1751 (20/5) Echigo 9,100 1,700 + 1766 (8/3) Hirosaki 7,500 1,335 + 1792 (10/2) Hizen and Higo 12,000 15,000 + 1828 (18/2) Echigo 11,750 1,443 + 1844 (8/5) Echigo 34,000 12,000 + 1854 (6/7) Yamato, Iga, Ise 5,000 2,400 + 1854 (23/12) Tokaido (Shikoku) 60,000 3,000 + 1855 (11/11) Yedo, (Tokyo) 50,000 6,700 + 1891 (28/10) Mino, Owari 222,501 7,273 + 1894 (22/10) Shonai 8,403 726 + 1896 (15/6) Sanriku 13,073 27,122 + 1896 (31/8) Ugo, Rikuchu 8,996 209 + 1906 (12/2) Formosa 5,556 1,228 + + (1) An area of over 1,200,000 acres swallowed up by the sea. + (2) Tidal wave killed thousands of people. + (3) Hamana lagoon formed. + + In the capital (Tokyo) the average yearly number of shocks throughout + the 26 years ending in 1906 was 96, exclusive of minor vibrations, but + during the 50 years then ending there were only two severe shocks + (1884 and 1894), and they were not directly responsible for any damage + to life or limb. The Pacific coast of the Japanese islands is more + liable than the western shore to shocks disturbing a wide area. + Apparent proof has been obtained that the shocks occurring in the + Pacific districts originate at the bottom of the sea--the Tuscarora + Deep is supposed to be the centre of seismic activity--and they are + accompanied in most cases by tidal waves. It would seem that of late + years Tajima, Hida, Kozuke and some other regions in central Japan + have enjoyed the greatest immunity, while Musashi (in which province + Tokyo is situated) and Sagami have been most subject to disturbance. + + _Plains._--Japan, though very mountainous, has many extensive plains. + The northern island--Yezo--contains seven, and there are as many more + in the main and southern islands, to say nothing of flat lands of + minor dimensions. The principal are given in the following table:-- + + Name. Situation. Area. Remarks. + + Tokachi plain Yezo. 744,000 acres. -- + Ishikari " " 480,000 " -- + Kushiro " " 1,229,000 " -- + Nemuro " " 320,000 " -- + Kitami " " 230,000 " -- + Hidaka " " 200,000 " -- + Teshio " " 180,000 " -- + Echigo " Main Island. Unascertained. -- + Sendai " " " -- + Kwanto " " " In this plain lie the + capital, Tokyo, and the + town of Yokohama. It + supports about 6 millions + of people. + Mino-Owari " " " Has 1½ million inhabitants. + Kinai " " " Has the cities of Osaka, + Kioto and Kobe, and 2½ + million people. + Tsukushi " Kiushiu. " The chief coalfield of + Japan. + + _Rivers._--Japan is abundantly watered. Probably no country in the + world possesses a closer network of streams, supplemented by canals + and lakes. But the quantity of water carried seawards varies within + wide limits; for whereas, during the rainy season in summer and while + the snows of winter are melting in spring, great volumes of water + sweep down from the mountains, these broad rivers dwindle at other + times to petty rivulets trickling among a waste of pebbles and + boulders. Nor are there any long rivers, and all are so broken by + shallows and rapids that navigation is generally impossible except by + means of flat-bottomed boats drawing only a few inches. The chief + rivers are given in the following table:-- + + Length + in miles. Source. Mouth. + + Ishikari-gawa 275 Ishikari-dake Otaru. + Shinano-gawa 215 Kimpu-san Niigata. + Teshio-gawa 192 Teshio-take Sea of Japan. + Tone-gawa 177 Monju-zan, Kozuke Choshi (Shimosa). + Mogami-gawa 151 Dainichi-dake(Uzen) Sakata. + Yoshino-gawa 149 Yahazu-yama (Tosa) Tokushima (Awa). + Kitakami-gawa 146 Nakayama-dake Ishinomaki + (Rikuchiu) (Rikuzen). + Tenriu-gawa 136 Suwako (Shinano) Totomi Bay. + Go-gawa or + Iwa-megawa 122 Maruse-yama (Bingo) Iwami Bay. + Abukuma-gawa 122 Asahi-take (Iwashiro) Matsushima Bay. + Tokachi-gawa 120 Tokachi-dake Tokachi Bay. + Sendai-gawa 112 Kunimi-zan (Hiuga) Kumizaki (Satsuma). + Oi-gawa 112 Shirane-san (Kai) Suruga Bay. + Kiso-gawa 112 Kiso-zan (Shinano) Bay of Isenumi. + Arakawa 104 Chichibu-yama Tokyo Bay. + Naga-gawa 102 Nasu-yama (Shimotsuke) Naka-no-minato + (Huachi). + + _Lakes and Waterfalls._--Japan has many lakes, remarkable for the + beauty of their scenery rather than for their extent. Some are + contained in alluvial depressions in the river valleys; others have + been formed by volcanic eruptions, the ejecta damming the rivers until + exits were found over cliffs or through gorges. Some of these lakes + have become favourite summer resorts for foreigners. To that category + belong especially the lakes of Hakone, of Chiuzenji, of Shoji, of + Inawashiro, and of Biwa. Among these the highest is Lake Chiuzenji, + which is 4375 ft. above sea-level, has a maximum depth of 93 fathoms, + and empties itself at one end over a fall (Kegon) 250 ft. high. The + Shoji lakes lie at a height of 3160 ft., and their neighbourhood + abounds in scenic charms. Lake Hakone is at a height of 2428 ft.; + Inawashiro, at a height of 1920 ft. and Biwa at a height of 328 ft. + The Japanese associate Lake Biwa (Omi) with eight views of special + loveliness (_Omi-no-hakkei_). Lake Suwa, in Shinano, which is emptied + by the Tenriu-gawa, has a height of 2624 ft. In the vicinity of many + of these mountain lakes thermal springs, with remarkable curative + properties, are to be found. (F. By.) + + _Geology._--It is a popular belief that the islands of Japan consist + for the most part of volcanic rocks. But although this conception + might reasonably be suggested by the presence of many active and + extinct volcanoes, Professor J. Milne has pointed out that it is + literally true of the Kuriles alone, partially true for the northern + half of the Main Island and for Kiushiu, and quite incorrect as + applied to the southern half of the Main Island and to Shikoku. This + authority sums up the geology of Japan briefly and succinctly as + follows (in _Things Japanese_, by Professor Chamberlain): "The + backbone of the country consists of primitive gneiss and schists. + Amongst the latter, in Shikoku, there is an extremely interesting rock + consisting largely of piedmontite. Overlying these amongst the + Palaeozoic rocks, we meet in many parts of Japan with slates and other + rocks possibly of Cambrian or Silurian age. Trilobites have been + discovered in Rikuzen. Carboniferous rocks are represented by mountain + masses of _Fusulina_ and other limestones. There is also amongst the + Palaeozoic group an interesting series of red slates containing + Radiolaria. Mesozoic rocks are represented by slates containing + _Ammonites_ and _Monotis_, evidently of Triassic age, rocks containing + _Ammonites Bucklandi_ of Liassic age, a series of beds rich in plants + of Jurassic age, and beds of Cretaceous age containing _Trigonia_ and + many other fossils. The Cainozoic or Tertiary system forms a fringe + round the coasts of many portions of the empire. It chiefly consists + of stratified volcanic tuffs rich in coal, lignite, fossilized plants + and an invertebrate fauna. Diatomaceous earth exists at several places + in Yezo. In the alluvium which covers all, the remains have been + discovered of several species of elephant, which, according to Dr + Edmund Naumann, are of Indian origin. The most common eruptive rock is + andesite. Such rocks as basalt, diorite and trachyte are comparatively + rare. Quartz porphyry, quartzless porphyry, and granite are largely + developed." Drs von Richthofen and Rein discuss the subject in greater + detail. They have pointed out that in the mountain system of Japan + there are three main lines. One runs from S.W. to N.E.; another from + S.S.W. to N.N.E., and the third is meridional. These they call + respectively the "southern schist range," the "northern schist range," + and the "snow range," the last consisting mainly of old crystalline + massive rocks. The rocks predominating in Japan fall also into three + groups. They are, first, plutonic rocks, especially granite; secondly, + volcanic rocks, chiefly trachyte and dolerite; and thirdly, palaeozoic + schists. On the other hand, limestone and sandstone, especially of the + Mesozoic strata, are strikingly deficient. The strike of the old + crystalline rocks follows, in general, the main direction of the + islands (S.W. to N.E.). They are often overlain by schists and + quartzites, or broken through by volcanic masses. "The basis of the + islands consist of granite, syenite, diorite, diabase and related + kinds of rock, porphyry appearing comparatively seldom. Now the + granite, continuing for long distances, forms the prevailing rock; + then, again, it forms the foundation for thick strata of schist and + sandstone, itself only appearing in valleys of erosion and river + boulders, in rocky projections on the coasts or in the ridges of the + mountains.... In the composition of many mountains in Hondo (the main + island) granite plays a prominent part.... It appears to form the + central mass which crops up in hundreds of places towards the coast + and in the interior. Old schists, free from fossils and rich in + quartz, overlie it in parallel chains through the whole length of the + peninsula, especially in the central and highest ridges, and bear the + ores of Chu-goku (the central provinces), principally copper pyrites + and magnetic pyrites. These schist ridges rich in quartz show, to a + depth of 20 metres, considerable disintegration. The resulting pebble + and quartz-sand is very unproductive, and supports chiefly a poor + underwood and crippled pines with widely spreading roots which seek + their nourishment afar. In the province of Settsu granite everywhere + predominates, which may be observed also in the railway cuttings + between Hiogo and Osaka, as well as in the temples and walls of these + towns. The waterfalls near Kobe descend over granite walls and the + _mikageishi_ (stone of Mikage), famous throughout Japan, is granite + from Settsu.... In the hill country on the borders of Ise, Owari, + Mikawa and Totomi, on the one side, and Omi, Mino and Shinano, on the + other, granite frequently forms dark grey and much disintegrated + rock-projections above schist and diluvial quartz pebbles. The + feldspar of a splendid pegmatite and its products of disintegration on + the borders of Owari, Mino and Mikawa form the raw material of the + very extensive ceramic industry of this district, with its chief + place, Seto. Of granite are chiefly formed the meridional mountains of + Shinano. Granite, diorite and other plutonic rocks hem in the winding + upper valleys of the Kiso-gawa, the Saigawa (Shinano river) and many + other rivers of this province, their clear water running over granite. + Also in the hills bordering on the plain of Kwanto these old + crystalline rocks are widely spread. Farther northwards they give way + again, as in the south, to schists and eruptive rocks. Yet even here + granite may be traced in many places. Of course it is not always a + pure granite; even hablit and granite-porphyry are found here and + there. Thus, for instance, near Nikko in the upper valley of the + Daiya-gawa, and in several other places in the neighbouring mountains, + a granite-porphyry appears with large, pale, flesh-coloured crystals + of orthoclase, dull triclinic felspar, quartz and hornblende." "From + the mine of Ichinokawa in Shikoku come the wonderful crystals of + antimonite, which form such conspicuous objects in the mineralogical + cabinets of Europe." (Rein's _Japan_ and Milne in _Things Japanese_.) + The above conditions suggest the presence of tertiary formations, yet + only the younger groups of that formation appear to be developed. Nor + is there any sign of moraines, glacier-scorings or other traces of the + ice-age. + + The oldest beds which have yielded fossils in any abundance belong to + the Carboniferous System. The Trias proper is represented by truly + marine deposits, while the Rhaetic beds contain plant remains. The + Jurassic and Cretaceous beds are also in part marine and in part + terrestrial. During the whole of the Mesozoic era Japan appears to + have lain on or near the margin of the Asiatic continent, and the + marine deposits are confined for the most part to the eastern side of + the islands. + + The igneous rocks occur at several geological horizons, but the great + volcanic eruptions did not begin until the Tertiary period. The + existing volcanoes belong to four separate arcs or chains. On the + south is the arc of the Luchu islands, which penetrates into Kiu Shiu. + In the centre there is the arc of the Izu-no-Shichito islands, which + is continued into Hondo along the Fossa Magna. In North Hondo the + great Bandai arc forms the axis of the island and stretches into Yezo + (Hokkaido). Finally in the east of Yezo rise the most westerly + volcanoes of the Kurile chain. The lavas and ashes ejected by these + volcanoes consist of liparite, dacite, andesite and basalt. + + Structurally Japan is divided into two regions by a depression (the + "Fossa Magna" of Naumann) which stretches across the island of Hondo + from Shimoda to Nagano. The depression is marked by a line of + volcanoes, including Fuji, and is in part buried beneath the products + of their eruptions. It is supposed to be due to a great fault along + its western margin. South and west of the Fossa Magna the beds are + thrown into folds which run approximately parallel to the general + direction of the coast, and two zones may be recognized--an outer, + consisting of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic beds, and an inner, consisting + of Archaean and Palaeozoic rocks, with granitic intrusions. Nearly + along the boundary between the two zones lie the inland seas of south + Japan. Towards the Fossa Magna the folds bend northwards. + + North and east of the Fossa Magna the structure is concealed, to a + very large extent, by the outpourings of the volcanoes which form so + marked a feature in the northern part of Hondo. But the foundation on + which the volcanoes rest is exposed along the east coast of Hondo (in + the Kwanto, Abukuma and Kitakami hills), and also in the island of + Yezo. This foundation consists of Archean, Palaeozoic and Mesozoic + beds folded together, the direction of the folds being N. by W. to S. + by E., that is to say, slightly oblique to the general direction of + this part of the island. Towards the Fossa Magna the folds bend + sharply round until they are nearly parallel to the Fossa itself. + (P. La.) + + + Secular Movement + + It has been abundantly demonstrated by careful observations that the + east coasts of Japan are slowly rising. This phenomenon was first + noticed in the case of the plain on which stands the capital, Tokyo. + Maps of sufficiently trustworthy accuracy show that in the 11th + century Tokyo Bay penetrated much more deeply in a northern direction + than it does now; the point where the city's main river (Sumida or + Arakawa) enters the sea was considerably to the north of its present + position, and low-lying districts, to-day thickly populated, were + under water. Edmund Naumann was the discoverer of these facts, and his + attention was first drawn to them by learning that an edible sea-weed, + which flourishes only in salt water, is called Asakusa-nori, from the + place (Asakusa) of its original provenance, which now lies some 3 m. + inland. Similar phenomena were found in Sakhalin by Schmidt and on the + north-east coast of the main island by Rein, and there can be little + doubt that they exist at other places also. Naumann has concluded that + "formerly Tokyo Bay stretched further over the whole level country of + Shimosa and Hitachi and northwards as far as the plain of Kwanto + extends;" that "the mountain country of Kasusa-Awa emerged from it an + island, and that a current ran in a north-westerly direction between + this island and the northern mountain margin of the present plain + toward the north-east into the open ocean." + + _Mineral Springs._--The presence of so many active volcanoes is + partially compensated by a wealth of mineral springs. Since many of + these thermal springs possess great medicinal value, Japan may become + one of the world's favourite health-resorts. There are more than a + hundred spas, some hot, some cold, which, being easily accessible and + highly efficacious, are largely visited by the Japanese. The most + noteworthy are as follows:-- + + Name of Spa. Prefecture. Quality. Temp., F°. + + Arima Hiogo Salt 100 + Asama Nagano Pure 111--127 + Asamushi Aomori Salt 134--168 + Atami Shizuoka " 131--226 + Beppu Oita Carbonic Acid 109--132 + Bessho Nagano Pure or Sulphurous 108--113 + Dogo Ehime Pure 70--110 + Hakone Kanagawa Pure, Salt or Sulphurous 98--168 + Higashi-yama Fukushima Pure or Salt 117--144 + Ikao Gumma Salt 111--127 + Isobe " " Cold + Kusatsu " Sulphurous 127--148 + Nasu Tochigi Sulphurous 162--172 + Noboribetsu Ishikari " 125 + Shibu Nagano Salt 98--115 + Chiuzenji Shizuoka Carbonate of Soda and + Sulphur 114--185 + Takarazuka Hiogo Carbonic Acid Cold + Ureshino Saga " 230 + Unzen Nagasaki Sulphurous 158--204 + Wagura Ishikawa Salt 180 + Yamashiro " " 165 + Yunoshima Hiogo " 104--134 + + _Climate._--The large extension of the Japanese islands in a northerly + and southerly direction causes great varieties of climate. General + characteristics are hot and humid though short summers, and long, cold + and clear winters. The equatorial currents produce conditions + differing from those existing at corresponding latitudes on the + neighbouring continent. In Kiushiu, Shikoku and the southern half of + the main island, the months of July and August alone are marked by + oppressive heat at the sea-level, while in elevated districts a cool + and even bracing temperature may always be found, though the direct + rays of the sun retain distressing power. Winter in these districts + does not last more than two months, from the end of December to the + beginning of March; for although the latter month is not free from + frost and even snow, the balminess of spring makes itself plainly + perceptible. In the northern half of the main island, in Yezo and in + the Kuriles, the cold is severe during the winter, which lasts for at + least four months, and snow falls sometimes to great depths. Whereas + in Tokyo the number of frosty nights during a year does not average + much over 60, the corresponding number in Sapporo on the north-west of + Yezo is 145. But the variation of the thermometer in winter and summer + being considerable--as much as 72° F. in Tokyo--the climate proves + somewhat trying to persons of weak constitution. On the other hand, + the mean daily variation is in general less than that in other + countries having the same latitude: it is greatest in January, when it + reaches 18° F., and least in July, when it barely exceeds 9° F. The + monthly variation is very great in March, when it usually reaches 43° + F. + + + Meteorology. + + During the first 40 years of the _Meiji_ era numerous meteorological + stations were established. Reports are constantly forwarded by + telegraph to the central observatory in Tokyo, which issues daily + statements of the climatic conditions during the previous twenty-four + hours, as well as forecasts for the next twenty-four. The whole + country is divided into districts for meteorological purposes, and + storm-warnings are issued when necessary. At the most important + stations observations are taken every hour; at the less important, six + observations daily; and at the least important, three observations. + From the record of three decades the following yearly averages of + temperature are obtained:-- + + F°. + + Taihoku (in Formosa) 71 + Nagasaki (Kiushiu) 60 + Kobe (Main Island) 59 + Osaka (Main Island) 59 + Okayama (Main Island) 58 + Nagoya (Main Island) 58 + Sakai (Main Island) 58 + Tokyo (Capital) 57 + Kioto (Main Island) 57 + Niigata (Main Island) 55 + Ishinomaki (Main Island) 52 + Aomori (Main Island) 50 + Sapporo (Yezo) 44 + + The following table affords data for comparing the climates of Peking, + Shanghai, Hakodate, Tokyo and San Francisco:-- + + Mean + Longitude. Latitude. Temp., F°. + + Peking 116° 29´ E. 39° 57´ N. 53 + Shanghai 121° 20´ E. 31° 12´ N. 59 + Hakodate 140° 45´ E. 41° 46´ N. 47 + Tokyo 138° 47´ E. 35° 41´ N. 57 + San Francisco 122° 25´ E. 37° 48´ N. 56 + + Mean Temp. of + Hottest Month. Hottest Month. + + Peking July 80 + Shanghai " 84 + Hakodate August 71 + Tokyo " 79 + San Francisco September 63 + + Mean Temp. of + Coldest Month. Coldest Month. + + Peking January 22 + Shanghai " 26 + Hakodate " 28 + Tokyo " 36 + San Francisco " 49 + + + Rainfall. + + There are three wet seasons in Japan: the first, from the middle of + April to the beginning of May; the second, from the middle of June to + the beginning of July; and the third, from early in September to early + in October. The dog days (_doyo_) are from the middle of July till the + second half of August. September is the wettest month; January the + driest. During the four months from November to February inclusive + only about 18% of the whole rain for the year falls. In the district + on the east of the main island the snowfall is insignificant, seldom + attaining a depth of more than four or five inches and generally + melting in a few days, while bright, sunny skies are usual. But in the + mountainous provinces of the interior and in those along the western + coast, deep snow covers the ground throughout the whole winter, and + the sky is usually wrapped in a veil of clouds. These differences are + due to the action of the north-westerly wind that blows over Japan + from Siberia. The intervening sea being comparatively warm, this wind + arrives at Japan having its temperature increased and carrying + moisture which it deposits as snow on the western faces of the + Japanese mountains. Crossing the mountains and descending their + eastern slopes, the wind becomes less saturated and warmer, so that + the formation of clouds ceases. Japan is emphatically a wet country so + far as quantity of rainfall is concerned, the average for the whole + country being 1570 mm. per annum. Still there are about four sunny + days for every three on which rain or snow falls, the actual figures + being 150 days of snow or rain and 215 days of sunshine. + + + Wind. + + During the cold season, which begins in October and ends in April, + northerly and westerly winds prevail throughout Japan. They come from + the adjacent continent of Asia, and they develop considerable strength + owing to the fact that there is an average difference of some 22 mm. + between the atmospheric pressure (750 mm.) in the Pacific and that + (772 mm.) in the Japanese islands. But during the warm season, from + May to September, these conditions of atmospheric pressure are + reversed, that in the Pacific rising to 767 mm. and that in Japan + falling to 750 mm. Hence throughout this season the prevailing winds + are light breezes from the west and south. A comparison of the force + habitually developed by the wind in various parts of the islands shows + that at Suttsu in Yezo the average strength is 9 metres per second, + while Izuhara in the island Tsushima, Kumamoto in Kiushiu and Gifu in + the east centre of the main island stand at the bottom of the list + with an average wind velocity of only 2 metres. A calamitous + atmospheric feature is the periodical arrival of storms called + "typhoons" (Japanese _tai-fu_ or "great wind"). These have their + origin, for the most part, in the China Sea, especially in the + vicinity of Luzon. Their season is from June to October, but they + occur in other months also, and they develop a velocity of 5 to 75 m. + an hour. The meteorological record for ten years ended 1905 shows a + total of 120 typhoons, being an average of 12 annually. September had + 14 of these phenomena, March 11 and April 10, leaving 85 for the + remaining 9 months. But only 65 out of the whole number developed + disastrous force. It is particularly unfortunate that September should + be the season of greatest typhoon frequency, for the earlier varieties + of rice flower in that month and a heavy storm does much damage. Thus, + in 1902--by no means an abnormal year--statistics show the following + disasters owing to typhoons: casualties to human life, 3639; ships and + boats lost, 3244; buildings destroyed wholly or partially, 695,062; + land inundated, 1,071,575 acres; roads destroyed, 1236 m.; bridges + washed away, 13,685; embankments broken, 705 m.; crops damaged, + 8,712,655 bushels. The total loss, including cost of repairs, was + estimated at nearly 3 millions sterling, which may be regarded as an + annual average. + + _Flora._--The flora of Japan has been carefully studied by many + scientific men from Siebold downwards. Foreigners visiting Japan are + immediately struck by the affection of the people for flowers, trees + and natural beauties of every kind. In actual wealth of blossom or + dimensions of forest trees the Japanese islands cannot claim any + special distinction. The spectacles most admired by all classes are + the tints of the foliage in autumn and the glory of flowering trees in + the spring. In beauty and variety of pattern and colour the autumnal + tints are unsurpassed. The colours pass from deep brown through purple + to yellow and white, thrown into relief by the dark green of + non-deciduous shrubs and trees. Oaks and wild prunus, wild vines and + sumachs, various kinds of maple, the dodan (_Enkianthus Japonicus_ + Hook.)--a wonderful bush which in autumn develops a hue of ruddy + red--birches and other trees, all add multitudinous colours to the + brilliancy of a spectacle which is further enriched by masses of + feathery bamboo. The one defect is lack of green sward. The grass used + for Japanese lawns loses its verdure in autumn and remains from + November to March a greyish-brown blot upon the scene. Spring is + supposed to begin in February when, according to the old calendar, the + new year sets in, but the only flowers then in bloom are the _camellia + japonica_ and some kinds of daphne. The former--called by the Japanese + _tsubaki_--may often be seen glowing fiery red amid snow, but the pink + (_otome tsubaki_), white (_shiro-tsubaki_) and variegated + (_shibori-no-tsubaki_) kinds do not bloom until March or April. + Neither the camellia nor the daphne is regarded as a refined flower: + their manner of shedding their blossoms is too unsightly. Queen of + spring flowers is the plum (_ume_). The tree lends itself with + peculiar readiness to the skilful manipulation of the gardener, and + is by him trained into shapes of remarkable grace. Its pure white or + rose-red blossoms, heralding the first approach of genial weather, are + regarded with special favour and are accounted the symbol of + unassuming hardihood. The cherry (_sakura_) is even more esteemed. It + will not suffer any training, nor does it, like the plum, improve by + pruning, but the sunshine that attends its brief period of bloom in + April, the magnificence of its flower-laden boughs and the picturesque + flutter of its falling petals, inspired an ancient poet to liken it to + the "soul of Yamato" (Japan), and it has ever since been thus + regarded. The wild peach (_momo_) blooms at the same time, but + attracts little attention. All these trees--the plum, the cherry and + the peach--bear no fruit worthy of the name, nor do they excel their + Occidental representatives in wealth of blossom, but the admiring + affection they inspire in Japan is unique. Scarcely has the cherry + season passed when that of the wistaria (_fuji_) comes, followed by + the azalea (_tsutsuji_) and the iris (_shobu_), the last being almost + contemporaneous with the peony (_botan_), which is regarded by many + Japanese as the king of flowers and is cultivated assiduously. A + species of weeping maple (_shidare-momiji_) dresses itself in + peachy-red foliage and is trained into many picturesque shapes, though + not without detriment to its longevity. Summer sees the lotus + (_renge_) convert wide expanses of lake and river into sheets of white + and red blossoms; a comparatively flowerless interval ensues until, in + October and November, the chrysanthemum arrives to furnish an excuse + for fashionable gatherings. With the exception of the dog-days and the + dead of winter, there is no season when flowers cease to be an object + of attention to the Japanese, nor does any class fail to participate + in the sentiment. There is similar enthusiasm in the matter of + gardens. From the 10th century onwards the art of landscape gardening + steadily grew into a science, with esoteric as well as exoteric + aspects, and with a special vocabulary. The underlying principle is to + reproduce nature's scenic beauties, all the features being drawn to + scale, so that however restricted the space, there shall be no + violation of proportion. Thus the artificial lakes and hills, the + stones forming rockeries or simulating solitary crags, the trees and + even the bushes are all selected or manipulated so as to fall + congruously into the general scheme. If, on the one hand, huge stones + are transported hundreds of miles from seashore or river-bed where, in + the lapse of long centuries, waves and cataracts have hammered them + into strange shapes, and if the harmonizing of their various colours + and the adjustment of their forms to environment are studied with + profound subtlety, so the training and tending of the trees and shrubs + that keep them company require much taste and much toil. Thus the red + pine (_aka-matsu_ or _pinus densiflora_), which is the favourite + garden tree, has to be subjected twice a year to a process of + spray-dressing which involves the careful removal of every weak or + aged needle. One tree occupies the whole time of a gardener for about + ten days. The details are endless, the results delightful. But it has + to be clearly understood that there is here no mention of a + flower-garden in the Occidental sense of the term. Flowers are + cultivated, but for their own sakes, not as a feature of the landscape + garden. If they are present, it is only as an incident. This of course + does not apply to shrubs which blossom at their seasons and fall + always into the general scheme of the landscape. Forests of + cherry-trees, plum-trees, magnolia trees, or _hiyaku-jikko_ + (_Lagerstroemia indica_), banks of azalea, clumps of hydrangea, groups + of camellia--such have their permanent places and their foliage adds + notes of colour when their flowers have fallen. But chrysanthemums, + peonies, roses and so forth, are treated as special shows, and are + removed or hidden when out of bloom. There is another remarkable + feature of the Japanese gardener's art. He dwarfs trees so that they + remain measurable only by inches after their age has reached scores, + even hundreds, of years, and the proportions of leaf, branch and stem + are preserved with fidelity. The pots in which these wonders of + patient skill are grown have to be themselves fine specimens of the + ceramist's craft, and as much as £200 is sometimes paid for a notably + well trained tree. + + There exists among many foreign observers an impression that Japan is + comparatively poor in wild-flowers; an impression probably due to the + fact that there are no flowery meadows or lanes. Besides, the flowers + are curiously wanting in fragrance. Almost the only notable exceptions + are the _mokusei_ (_Osmanthus fragrans_), the daphne and the magnolia. + Missing the perfume-laden air of the Occident, a visitor is prone to + infer paucity of blossoms. But if some familiar European flowers are + absent, they are replaced by others strange to Western eyes--a wealth + of _lespedeza_ and _Indigo-fera_; a vast variety of lilies; graceful + grasses like the eulalia and the _ominameshi_ (_Patrina + scabiosaefolia_); the richly-hued _Pyrus japonica_; azaleas, + diervillas and deutzias; the _kikyo_ (_Platycodon grandiflorum_), the + _giboshi_ (_Funkia ovata_), and many another. The same is true of + Japanese forests. It has been well said that "to enumerate the + constituents and inhabitants of the Japanese mountain-forests would be + to name at least half the entire flora." + + According to Franchet and Savatier Japan possesses:-- + + Families. Genera. Species. + + Dicotyledonous plants 121 795 1934 + Monocotyledonous plants 28 202 613 + Higher Cryptogamous plants 5 38 196 + --- ---- ---- + Vascular plants 154 1035 2743 + + + The investigations of Japanese botanists are adding constantly to the + above number, and it is not likely that finality will be reached for + some time. According to a comparison made by A. Gray with regard to + the numbers of genera and species respectively represented in the + forest trees of four regions of the northern hemisphere, the following + is the case:-- + + Atlantic Forest-region of N. America 66 genera and 155 species. + Pacific Forest-region of N. America 31 genera and 78 species. + Japan and Manchuria Forest-region 66 genera and 168 species. + Forests of Europe 33 genera and 85 species. + + While there can be no doubt that the luxuriance of Japan's flora is + due to rich soil, to high temperature and to rainfall not only + plentiful but well distributed over the whole year, the wealth and + variety of her trees and shrubs must be largely the result of + immigration. Japan has four insular chains which link her to the + neighbouring continent. On the south, the Riukiu Islands bring her + within reach of Formosa and the Malayan archipelago; on the west, Oki, + Iki, and Tsushima bridge the sea between her and Korea; on the + north-west Sakhalin connects her with the Amur region; and on the + north, the Kuriles form an almost continuous route to Kamchatka. By + these paths the germs of Asiatic plants were carried over to join the + endemic flora of the country, and all found suitable homes amid + greatly varying conditions of climate and physiography. + + _Fauna._--Japan is an exception to the general rule that continents + are richer in fauna than are their neighbouring islands. It has been + said with truth that "an industrious collector of beetles, + butterflies, neuroptera, &c., finds a greater number of species in a + circuit of some miles near Tokyo than are exhibited by the whole + British Isles." + + Of mammals 50 species have been identified and catalogued. Neither the + lion nor the tiger is found. The true Carnivora are three only, the + bear, the dog and the marten. Three species of bears are + scientifically recognized, but one of them, the ice-bear (_Ursus + maritimus_), is only an accidental visitor, carried down by the Arctic + current. In the main island the black bear (_kuma_, _Ursus japonicus_) + alone has its habitation, but the island of Yezo has the great brown + bear (called _shi-guma_, _oki-kuma_ or _aka-kuma_), the "grisly" of + North America. The bear does not attract much popular interest in + Japan. Tradition centres rather upon the fox (_kitsune_) and the + badger (_mujina_), which are credited with supernatural powers, the + former being worshipped as the messenger of the harvest god, while the + latter is regarded as a mischievous rollicker. Next to these comes the + monkey (_saru_), which dwells equally among the snows of the north and + in the mountainous regions of the south. _Saru_ enters into the + composition of many place-names, an evidence of the people's + familiarity with the animal. There are ten species of bat (_komori_) + and seven of insect-eaters, and prominent in this class are the mole + (_mugura_) and the hedgehog (_hari-nezumi_). Among the martens there + is a weasel (_itachi_), which, though useful as a rat-killer, has the + evil repute of being responsible for sudden and mysterious injuries to + human beings; there is a river-otter (_kawauso_), and there is a + sea-otter (_rakko_) which inhabits the northern seas and is highly + valued for its beautiful pelt. The rodents are represented by an + abundance of rats, with comparatively few mice, and by the ordinary + squirrel, to which the people give the name of tree-rat (_ki-nezumi_), + as well as the flying squirrel, known as the _momo-dori_ (peach-bird) + in the north, where it hides from the light in hollow tree-trunks, and + in the south as the _ban-tori_ (or bird of evening). There are no + rabbits, but hares (_usagi_) are to be found in very varying numbers, + and those of one species put on a white coat during winter. The wild + boar (_shishi_ or _ii-no-shishi_) does not differ appreciably from its + European congener. Its flesh is much relished, and for some + unexplained reason is called by its vendors "mountain-whale" + (_yama-kujira_). A very beautiful stag (_shika_), with eight-branched + antlers, inhabits the remote woodlands, and there are five species of + antelope (_kamo-shika_) which are found in the highest and least + accessible parts of the mountains. Domestic animals have for + representatives the horse (_uma_), a small beast with little beauty of + form though possessing much hardihood and endurance; the ox (_ushi_) + mainly a beast of burden or draught; the pig (_buta_), very + occasionally; the dog (_inu_), an unsightly and useless brute; the cat + (_neko_), with a stump in lieu of a tail; barndoor fowl (_niwa-tori_), + ducks (_ahiro_) and pigeons (_hato_). The turkey (_shichi-mencho_) and + the goose (_gacho_) have been introduced but are little appreciated as + yet. + + Although so-called singing birds exist in tolerable numbers, those + worthy of the name of songster are few. Eminently first is a species + of nightingale (_uguisu_), which, though smaller than its congener of + the West, is gifted with exquisitely modulated flute-like notes of + considerable range. The _uguisu_ is a dainty bird in the matter of + temperature. After May it retires from the low-lying regions and + gradually ascends to higher altitudes as midsummer approaches. A + variety of the cuckoo called _holotogisu_ (_Cuculus poliocephalus_) in + imitation of the sound of its voice, is heard as an accompaniment of + the _uguisu_, and there are also three other species, the _kakkodori_ + (_Cuculus canorus_), the _tsutsu-dori_ (_C. himalayanus_), and the + _masuhakari_, or _juichi_ (_C. hyperythrus_). To these the lark, + _hibari_ (_Alauda japonica_), joins its voice, and the cooing of the + pigeon (_hato_) is supplemented by the twittering of the ubiquitous + sparrow (_suzume_), while over all are heard the raucous caw of the + raven (_karasu_) and the harsh scream of the kite (_tombi_), between + which and the raven there is perpetual feud. The falcon (_taka_), + always an honoured bird in Japan, where from time immemorial hawking + has been an aristocratic pastime, is common enough, and so is the + sparrow-hawk (_hai-taka_), but the eagle (_washi_) affects solitude. + Two English ornithologists, Blakiston and Pryer, are the recognized + authorities on the birds of Japan, and in a contribution to the + _Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan_ (vol. x.) they have + enumerated 359 species. Starlings (_muku-dori_) are numerous, and so + are the wagtail (_sekirei_), the swallow (_tsubame_) the martin + (_ten_), the woodchat (_mozu_) and the jay (_kakesu_ or _kashi-dori_), + but the magpie (_togarasu_), though common in China, is rare in Japan. + Blackbirds and thrushes are not found, nor any species of parrot, but + on the other hand, we have the hoopoe (_yatsugashira_), the red-breast + (_komadori_), the bluebird (_ruri_), the wren (_miso-sazai_), the + golden-crested wren (_itadaki_), the golden-eagle (_inu-washi_), the + finch (_hiwa_), the longtailed rose-finch (_benimashiko_), the + ouzel--brown (_akahara_), dusky (_tsugumi_) and water + (_kawa-garasu_)--the kingfisher (_kawasemi_), the crake (_kuina_) and + the tomtit (_kara_). Among game-birds there are the quail (_uzura_), + the heathcock (_ezo-racho_), the ptarmigan (_ezo-raicho_ or + _ezo-yama-dori_), the woodcock (hodo-shigi), the snipe + (_ta-shigi_)--with two special species, the solitary snipe + (_yama-shigi_) and the painted snipe (_tama-shigi_)--and the pheasant + (_kiji_). Of the last there are two species, the _kiji_ proper, a bird + presenting no remarkable features, and the copper pheasant, a + magnificent bird with plumage of dazzling beauty. Conspicuous above + all others, not only for grace of form but also for the immemorial + attention paid to them by Japanese artists, are the crane (_tsuru_) + and the heron (_sagi_). Of the crane there are seven species, the + stateliest and most beautiful being the _Grus japonensis_ (_tancho_ or + _tancho-zuru_), which stands some 5 ft. high and has pure white + plumage with a red crown, black tail-feathers and black upper neck. It + is a sacred bird, and it shares with the tortoise the honour of being + an emblem of longevity. The other species are the demoiselle crane + (_anewa-zuru_), the black crane (_kuro-zuru_ or _nezumi-zuru_, i.e. + _Grus cinerea_), the _Grus leucauchen_ (_mana-zuru_), the _Grus + monachus_ (_nabe-zuru_), and the white crane (_shiro-zuru_). The + Japanese include in this category the stork (_kozuru_), but it may be + said to have disappeared from the island. The heron (_sagi_) + constitutes a charming feature in a Japanese landscape, especially the + silver heron (_shira-sagi_), which displays its brilliant white + plumage in the rice-fields from spring to early autumn. The + night-heron (_goi-sagi_) is very common. Besides these waders there + are plover (_chidori_); golden (_muna-guro_ or _ai-guro_); gray + (_daizen_); ringed (_shiro-chidori_); spur-winged (_keri_) and + Harting's sand-plover (_ikaru-chidori_); sand-pipers--green + (_ashiro-shigi_) and spoon-billed (_hera-shigi_)--and water-hens + (_ban_). Among swimming birds the most numerous are the gull + (_kamome_), of which many varieties are found; the cormorant + (_u_)--which is trained by the Japanese for fishing purposes--and + multitudinous flocks of wild-geese (_gan_) and wild-ducks (_kamo_), + from the beautiful mandarin-duck (_oshi-dori_), emblem of conjugal + fidelity, to teal (_kogamo_) and widgeon (_hidori-gamo_) of several + species. Great preserves of wild-duck and teal used to be a frequent + feature in the parks attached to the feudal castles of old Japan, when + a peculiar method of netting the birds or striking them with falcons + was a favourite aristocratic pastime. A few of such preserves still + exist, and it is noticeable that in the Palace-moats of Tokyo all + kinds of water-birds, attracted by the absolute immunity they enjoy + there, assemble in countless numbers at the approach of winter and + remain until the following spring, wholly indifferent to the close + proximity of the city. + + Of reptiles Japan has only 30 species, and among them is included the + marine turtle (_umi-game_) which can scarcely be said to frequent her + waters, since it is seen only at rare intervals on the southern coast. + This is even truer of the larger species (the _shogakubo_, i.e. + _Chelonia cephalo_). Both are highly valued for the sake of the shell, + which has always been a favourite material for ladies' combs and + hairpins. By carefully selecting certain portions and welding them + together in a perfectly flawless mass, a pure amber-coloured object is + obtained at heavy cost. Of the fresh-water tortoise there are two + kinds, the _suppon_ (_Trionyx japonica_) and the _kame-no-ko_ (_Emys + vulgaris japonica_). The latter is one of the Japanese emblems of + longevity. It is often depicted with a flowing tail, which appendix + attests close observation of nature; for the _mino-game_, as it is + called, represents a tortoise to which, in the course of many scores + of years, confervae have attached themselves so as to form an + appendage of long green locks as the creature swims about. Sea-snakes + occasionally make their way to Japan, being carried thither by the + Black Current (Kuro Shiwo) and the monsoon, but they must be regarded + as merely fortuitous visitors. There are 10 species of land-snakes + (_hebi_), among which one only (the _mamushi_, or _Trigonocephalus + Blomhoffi_) is venomous. The others for the most part frequent the + rice-fields and live upon frogs. The largest is the _aodaisho_ + (_Elaphis virgatus_), which sometimes attains a length of 5 ft., but + is quite harmless. Lizards (_tokage_), frogs (_kawazu_ or _kaeru_), + toads (_ebogayeru_) and newts (_imori_) are plentiful, and much + curiosity attaches to a giant salamander (_sansho-uwo_, called also + _hazekai_ and other names according to localities), which reaches to a + length of 5 ft., and (according to Rein) is closely related to the + _Andrias Scheuchzeri_ of the Oeningen strata. + + The seas surrounding the Japanese islands may be called a resort of + fishes, for, in addition to numerous species which abide there + permanently, there are migatory kinds, coming and going with the + monsoons and with the great ocean streams that set to and from the + shores. In winter, for example, when the northern monsoon begins to + blow, numbers of denizens of the Sea of Okhotsk swim southward to the + more genial waters of north Japan; and in summer the Indian Ocean and + the Malayan archipelago send to her southern coasts a crowd of + emigrants which turn homeward again at the approach of winter. It thus + falls out that in spite of the enormous quantity of fish consumed as + food or used as fertilizers year after year by the Japanese, the seas + remain as richly stocked as ever. Nine orders of fishes have been + distinguished as the piscifauna of Japanese waters. They may be found + carefully catalogued with all their included species in Rein's + _Japan_, and highly interesting researches by Japanese physiographists + are recorded in the Journal of the College of Science of the Imperial + University of Tokyo. Briefly, the chief fish of Japan are the bream + (_tai_), the perch (_suzuki_), the mullet (_bora_), the rock-fish + (_hatatate_), the grunter (_oni-o-koze_), the mackerel (_saba_), the + sword-fish (_tachi-uwo_), the wrasse (_kusabi_), the haddock (_tara_), + the flounder (_karei_), and its congeners the sole (_hirame_) and the + turbot (_ishi-garei_), the shad (_namazu_), the salmon (_shake_), the + _masu_, the carp (_koi_), the _funa_, the gold fish (_kingyo_), the + gold carp (_higoi_), the loach (_dojo_), the herring (_nishin_), the + _iwashi_(_Clupea melanosticta_), the eel (_unagi_), the conger eel + (_anago_), the coffer-fish (_hako-uwo_), the _fugu_ (_Tetrodon_), the + _ai_ (_Plecoglossus altivelis_), the sayori (_Hemiramphus sayori_), + the shark (same), the dogfish (_manuka-zame_), the ray (_e_), the + sturgeon (_cho-zame_) and the _maguro_ (_Thynnus sibi_). + + The insect life of Japan broadly corresponds with that of temperate + regions in Europe. But there are also a number of tropical species, + notably among butterflies and beetles. The latter--for which the + generic term in Japan is _mushi_ or _kaichu_--include some beautiful + species, from the "jewel beetle" (_tama-mushi_), the "gold beetle" + (_kogane-mushi_) and the _Chrysochroa fulgidissima_, which glow and + sparkle with the brilliancy of gold and precious stones, to the jet + black _Melanauster chinensis_, which seems to have been fashioned out + of lacquer spotted with white. There is also a giant nasicornous + beetle. Among butterflies (_chocho_) Rein gives prominence to the + broad-winged kind (_Papilio_), which recall tropical brilliancy. One + (_Papilio macilentus_) is peculiar to Japan. Many others seem to be + practically identical with European species. That is especially true + of the moths (_yacho_), 100 species of which have been identified with + English types. There are seven large silk-moths, of which two only + (_Bombyx mori_ and _Antheraea yama-mai_) are employed in producing + silk. Fishing lines are manufactured from the cocoons of the + _genjiki-mushi_ (_Caligula japonica_), which is one of the commonest + moths in the islands. Wasps, bees and hornets, generically known as + _hachi_, differ little from their European types, except that they are + somewhat larger and more sluggish. The gad-fly (_abu_), the housefly + (_hai_), the mosquito (_ka_), the flea (_nomi_) and occasionally the + bedbug (called by the Japanese _kara-mushi_ because it is believed to + be imported from China), are all fully represented, and the dragon-fly + (_tombo_) presents itself in immense numbers at certain seasons. + Grasshoppers (_batta_) are abundant, and one kind (_inago_), which + frequent the rice-fields when the cereal is ripening, are caught and + fried in oil as an article of food. On the moors in late summer the + mantis (_kama-kiri-mushi_) is commonly met with, and the cricket + (_kurogi_) and the cockroach abound. Particularly obtrusive is the + cicada (_semi_), of which there are many species. Its strident voice + is heard most loudly at times of great heat, when the song of the + birds is hushed. The dragon-fly and the cicada afford ceaseless + entertainment to the Japanese boy. He catches them by means of a rod + smeared with bird-lime, and then tying a fine string under their + wings, he flies them at its end. Spiders abound, from a giant species + to one of the minutest dimensions, and the tree-bug is always ready to + make a destructive lodgment in any sickly tree-stem. The scorpion + (_sasori_) exists but is not poisonous. + + Japanese rivers and lakes are the habitation of several--seven or + eight--species of fresh-water crab (_kani_), which live in holes on + the shore and emerge in the daytime, often moving to considerable + distances from their homes. Shrimps (_kawa-ebi_) also are found in the + rivers and rice-fields. These shrimps as well as a large species of + crab--_mokuzo-gani_--serve the people as an article of food, but the + small crabs which live in holes have no recognized _raison d'être_. In + Japan, as elsewhere, the principal crustacea are found in the sea. + Flocks of _lupa_ and other species swim in the wake of the tropical + fishes which move towards Japan at certain seasons. Naturally these + migratory crabs are not limited to Japanese waters. Milne Edwards has + identified ten species which occur in Australian seas also, and Rein + mentions, as belonging to the same category, the "helmet-crab" or + "horse-shoe crab" (_kabuto-gani_; _Limulus longispina_ Hoeven). Very + remarkable is the giant _Taka-ashi_--long legs (_Macrocheirus + Kaempferi_), which has legs 1½ metres long and is found in the seas of + Japan and the Malay archipelago. There is no lobster on the coasts of + Japan, but there are various species of crayfish (_Palinurus_ and + _Scyllarus_) the principal of which, under the names of ise-ebi + (_Palinurus japonicus_) and _kuruma-ebi_ (_Penaeus canaliculatus_) are + greatly prized as an article of diet. + + Already in 1882, Dunker in his _Index Molluscorum Maris Japonici_ + enumerated nearly 1200 species of marine molluscs found in the + Japanese archipelago, and several others have since then been added + to the list. As for the land and fresh-water molluscs, some 200 of + which are known, they are mainly kindred with those of China and + Siberia, tropical and Indian forms being exceptional. There are 57 + species of _Helix_ (_maimaitsuburi_, _dedemushi_, _katatsumuri_ or + _kwagyu_) and 25 of Clausilia (_kiseru-gai_ or pipe-snail), including + the two largest snails in Japan, namely the _Cl. Martensi_ and the + _Cl. Yoko-hamensis_, which attain to a length of 58 mm. and 44 mm. + respectively. The mussel (_i-no-kai_) is well represented by the + species _numa-gai_ (marsh-mussel), _karasu-gai_ (raven-mussel), + _kamisori-gai_ (razor-mussel), _shijimi-no-kai_ (_Corbicula_), of + which there are nine species, &c. Unlike the land-molluscs, the great + majority of Japanese sea-molluscs are akin to those of the Indian + Ocean and the Malay archipelago. Some of them extend westward as far + as the Red Sea. The best known and most frequent forms are the _asari_ + (_Tapes philippinarum_), the _hamaguri_ (_Meretrix lusoria_), the + _baka_ (_Mactra sulcataria_), the _aka-gai_ (_Scapharca inflata_), the + _kaki_ (oyster), the _awabi_ (_Haliotis japonica_), the _sazae_ + (_Turbo cornutus_), the _hora-gai_ (_Tritonium tritonius_), &c. Among + the cephalopods several are of great value as articles of food, e.g. + the _surume_ (_Onychotheuthis Banksii_), the _tako_ (octopus), the + _shidako_ (Eledone), the _ika_ (Sepia) and the _tako-fune_ + (Argonauta). + + Greeff enumerates, as denizens of Japanese seas, 26 kinds of + sea-urchins (_gaze_ or _uni_) and 12 of starfish (_hitode_ or + _tako-no-makura_). These, like the mollusca, indicate the influence of + the Kuro Shiwo and the south-west monsoon, for they have close + affinity with species found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. For + edible purposes the most valuable of the Japanese echinoderms is the + sea-slug or _bêche de mer_ (_namako_), which is greatly appreciated + and forms an important staple of export to China. Rein writes: "Very + remarkable in connexion with the starfishes is the occurrence of + _Asterias rubens_ on the Japanese coast. This creature displays an + almost unexampled frequency and extent of distribution in the whole + North Sea, in the western parts of the Baltic, near the Faroe Islands, + Iceland, Greenland and the English coasts, so that it may be regarded + as a characteristic North Sea echinoderm form. Towards the south this + starfish disappears, it seems, completely; for it is not yet known + with certainty to exist either in the Mediterranean or in the southern + parts of the Atlantic Ocean. In others also _Asterias rubens_ is not + known--and then it suddenly reappears in Japan. _Archaster typicus_ + has a pretty wide distribution over the Indian Ocean; other + _Asteridae_ of Japan, on the other hand, appear to be confined to its + shores." + + Japan is not rich in corals and sponges. Her most interesting + contributions are crust-corals (_Gorgonidae_, _Corallium_, _Isis_, + &c.), and especially flint-sponges, called by the Japanese _hoshi-gai_ + and known as "glass-coral" (_Hyalonema sieboldi_). These last have not + been found anywhere except at the entrance of the Bay of Tokyo at a + depth of some 200 fathoms. + + +II.--THE PEOPLE + +_Population._--The population was as follows on the 31st of December +1907:-- + + Population + Population. Males. Females. Totals. per sq. m. + + Japan proper 24,601,658 24,172,627 48,774,285 330 + Formosa (Taiwan) 1,640,778 1,476,137 3,116,915 224 + Sakhalin 7,175 3,631 10,806 0.1 + ---------- ---------- ---------- + Totals 26,249,611 25,652,395 51,902,006 + +The following table shows the rate of increase in the four quadrennial +periods between 1891 and 1907 in Japan proper:-- + + Average Population + Year. Males. Females. Totals. increase per + per cent. sq. m. + + 1891 20,563,416 20,155,261 40,718,677 1.09 272 + 1895 21,345,750 20,904,870 42,270,620 1.09 286 + 1899 22,330,112 21,930,540 44,260,652 1.14 299 + 1903 23,601,640 23,131,236 46,732,876 1.54 316 + 1907 24,601,658 24,172,627 48,774,285 1.13 330 + +The population of Formosa (Taiwan) during the ten-year period 1898-1907 +grew as follows:-- + + Average Population + Year. Males. Females. Totals. increase per + per cent. sq. m. + + 1898 1,307,428 1,157,539 2,464,967 -- 182 + 1902 1,513,280 1,312,067 2,825,347 2.70 209 + 1907 1,640,778 1,476,137 3,116,915 2.37 224 + + + According to quasi-historical records, the population of the empire in + the year A.D. 610 was 4,988,842, and in 736 it had grown to 8,631,770. + It is impossible to say how much reliance may be placed on these + figures, but from the 18th century, when the name of every subject had + to be inscribed on the roll of a temple as a measure against his + adoption of Christianity, a tolerably trustworthy census could always + be taken. The returns thus obtained show that from the year 1723 until + 1846 the population remained almost stationary, the figure in the + former year being 26,065,422, and that in the latter year 26,907,625. + There had, indeed, been five periods of declining population in that + interval of 124 years, namely, the periods 1738-1744, 1759-1762, + 1773-1774, 1791-1792, and 1844-1846. But after 1872, when the census + showed a total of 33,110,825, the population grew steadily, its + increment between 1872 and 1898 inclusive, a period of 27 years, being + 10,649,990. Such a rate of increase invests the question of + subsistence with great importance. In former times the area of land + under cultivation increased in a marked degree. Returns prepared at + the beginning of the 10th century showed 2½ million acres under crops, + whereas the figure in 1834 was over 8 million acres. But the + development of means of subsistence has been outstripped by the growth + of population in recent years. Thus, during the period between 1899 + and 1907 the population received an increment of 11.6% whereas the + food-producing area increased by only 4.4%. This discrepancy caused + anxiety at one time, but large fields suitable for colonization have + been opened in Sakhalin, Korea, Manchuria and Formosa, so that the + problem of subsistence has ceased to be troublesome. The birth-rate, + taking the average of the decennial period ended 1907, is 3.05% of the + population, and the death-rate is 2.05. Males exceed females in the + ratio of 2% approximately. But this rule does not hold after the age + of 65, where for every 100 females only 83 males are found. The + Japanese are of low stature as compared with the inhabitants of + Western Europe: about 16% of the adult males are below 5 ft. But there + are evidences of steady improvement in this respect. Thus, during the + period of ten years between 1893 and 1902, it was found that the + percentage of recruits of 5 ft. 5 in. and upward grew from 10.09 to + 12.67, the rate of increase having been remarkably steady; and the + percentage of those under 5 ft. declined from 20.21 to 16.20. + + _Towns._--There are in Japan 23 towns having a population of over + 50,000, and there are 76 having a population of over 20,000. The + larger towns, their populations and the growth of the latter during + the five-year period commencing with 1898 were as follow:-- + + URBAN POPULATIONS + + 1898. 1903. + + Tokyo 1,440,121 1,795,128 + Osaka 821,235 988,200 + Kioto 353,139 379,404 + Nagoya 244,145 284,829 + Kobe 215,780 283,839 + Yokohama 193,762 324,776 + Hiroshima 122,306 113,545 + Nagasaki 107,422 151,727 + Kanazawa 83,595 97,548 + Sendai 83,325 93,773 + Hakodate 78,040 84,746 + Fukuoka 66,190 70,107 + Wakayama 63,667 67,908 + Tokushima 61,501 62,998 + Kumamoto 61,463 55,277 + Toyama 59,558 86,276 + Okayama 58,025 80,140 + Otaru 56,961 79,746 + Kagoshima 53,481 58,384 + Niigata 53,366 58,821 + Sakai 50,203 -- + Sapporo -- 55,304 + Kure -- 62,825 + Sasebo -- 52,607 + + The growth of Kure and Sasebo is attributable to the fact that they + have become the sites of large ship-building yards, the property of + the state. + + The number of houses in Japan at the end of 1903, when the census was + last taken, was 8,725,544, the average number of inmates in each house + being thus 5.5. + +_Physical Characteristics._--The best authorities are agreed that the +Japanese people do not differ physically from their Korean and Chinese +neighbours as much as the inhabitants of northern Europe differ from +those of southern Europe. It is true that the Japanese are shorter in +stature than either the Chinese or the Koreans. Thus the average height +of the Japanese male is only 5 ft. 3½ in., and that of the female 4 ft. +10½ in., whereas in the case of the Koreans and the northern Chinese the +corresponding figures for males are 5 ft. 5¾ in. and 5 ft. 7 in. +respectively. Yet in other physical characteristics the Japanese, the +Koreans and the Chinese resemble each other so closely that, under +similar conditions as to costume and coiffure, no appreciable difference +is apparent. Thus since it has become the fashion for Chinese students +to flock to the schools and colleges of Japan, there adopting, as do +their Japanese fellow-students, Occidental garments and methods of +hairdressing, the distinction of nationality ceases to be perceptible. +The most exhaustive anthropological study of the Japanese has been made +by Dr E. Baelz (emeritus professor of medicine in the Imperial +University of Tokyo), who enumerates the following sub-divisions of the +race inhabiting the Japanese islands. The first and most important is +the Manchu-Korean type; that is to say, the type which prevails in north +China and in Korea. This is seen specially among the upper classes in +Japan. Its characteristics are exceptional tallness combined with +slenderness and elegance of figure; a face somewhat long, without any +special prominence of the cheekbones but having more or less oblique +eyes; an aquiline nose; a slightly receding chin; largish upper teeth; a +long neck; a narrow chest; a long trunk, and delicately shaped, small +hands with long, slender fingers. The most plausible hypothesis is that +men of this type are descendants of Korean colonists who, in prehistoric +times, settled in the province of Izumo, on the west coast of Japan, +having made their way thither from the Korean peninsula by the island of +Oki, being carried by the cold current which flows along the eastern +coast of Korea. The second type is the Mongol. It is not very frequently +found in Japan, perhaps because, under favourable social conditions, it +tends to pass into the Manchu-Korean type. Its representative has a +broad face, with prominent cheekbones, oblique eyes, a nose more or less +flat and a wide mouth. The figure is strongly and squarely built, but +this last characteristic can scarcely be called typical. There is no +satisfactory theory as to the route by which the Mongols reached Japan, +but it is scarcely possible to doubt that they found their way thither +at one time. More important than either of these types as an element of +the Japanese nation is the Malay. Small in stature, with a well-knit +frame, the cheekbones prominent, the face generally round, the nose and +neck short, a marked tendency to prognathism, the chest broad and well +developed, the trunk long, the hands small and delicate--this Malay type +is found in nearly all the islands along the east coast of the Asiatic +continent as well as in southern China and in the extreme south-west of +Korean peninsula. Carried northward by the warm current known as the +Kuro Shiwo, the Malays seem to have landed in Kiushiu--the most +southerly of the main Japanese islands--whence they ultimately pushed +northward and conquered their Manchu-Korean predecessors, the Izumo +colonists. None of the above three, however, can be regarded as the +earliest settlers in Japan. Before them all was a tribe of immigrants +who appear to have crossed from north-eastern Asia at an epoch when the +sea had not yet dug broad channels between the continent and the +adjacent islands. These people--the Ainu--are usually spoken of as the +aborigines of Japan. They once occupied the whole country, but were +gradually driven northward by the Manchu-Koreans and the Malays, until +only a mere handful of them survived in the northern island of Yezo. +Like the Malay and the Mongol types they are short and thickly built, +but unlike either they have prominent brows, bushy locks, round deep-set +eyes, long divergent lashes, straight noses and much hair on the face +and the body. In short, the Ainu suggest much closer affinity with +Europeans than does any other of the types that go to make up the +population of Japan. It is not to be supposed, however, that these +traces of different elements indicate any lack of homogeneity in the +Japanese race. Amalgamation has been completely effected in the course +of long centuries, and even the Ainu, though the small surviving remnant +of them now live apart, have left a trace upon their conquerors. + +The typical Japanese of the present day has certain marked physical +peculiarities. In the first place, the ratio of the height of his head +to the length of his body is greater than it is in Europeans. The +Englishman's head is often one-eighth of the length of his body or even +less, and in continental Europeans, as a rule, the ratio does not +amount to one-seventh; but in the Japanese it exceeds the latter figure. +In all nations men of short stature have relatively large heads, but in +the case of the Japanese there appears to be some racial reason for the +phenomenon. Another striking feature is shortness of legs relatively to +length of trunk. In northern Europeans the leg is usually much more than +one-half of the body's length, but in Japanese the ratio is one-half or +even less; so that whereas the Japanese, when seated, looks almost as +tall as a European, there may be a great difference between their +statures when both are standing. This special feature has been +attributed to the Japanese habit of kneeling instead of sitting, but +investigation shows that it is equally marked in the working classes who +pass most of their time standing. In Europe the same physical +traits--relative length of head and shortness of legs--distinguish the +central race (Alpine) from the Teutonic, and seem to indicate an +affinity between the former and the Mongols. It is in the face, however, +that we find specially distinctive traits, namely, in the eyes, the +eye-lashes, the cheekbones and the beard. Not that the eyeball itself +differs from that of an Occidental. The difference consists in the fact +that "the socket of the eye is comparatively small and shallow, and the +osseous ridges at the brows being little marked, the eye is less deeply +set than in the European. In fact, seen in profile, forehead and upper +lip often form an unbroken line." Then, again, the shape of the eye, as +modelled by the lids, shows a striking peculiarity. For whereas the open +eye is almost invariably horizontal in the European, it is often oblique +in the Japanese on account of the higher level of the upper corner. "But +even apart from obliqueness, the shape of the corners is peculiar in the +Mongolian eye. The inner corner is partly or entirely covered by a fold +of the upper lid continuing more or less into the lower lid. This fold +often covers also the whole free rim of the upper lid, so that the +insertion of the eye-lashes is hidden" and the opening between the lids +is so narrowed as to disappear altogether at the moment of laughter. As +for the eye-lashes, not only are they comparatively short and sparse, +but also they converge instead of diverging, so that whereas in a +European the free ends of the lashes are further distant from each other +than their roots, in a Japanese they are nearer together. Prominence of +cheekbones is another special feature, but it is much commoner in the +lower than in the upper classes, where elongated faces may almost be +said to be the rule. Finally, there is marked paucity of hair on the +face of the average Japanese--apart from the Ainu--and what hair there +is is nearly always straight. It is not to be supposed, however, that +because the Japanese is short of stature and often finely moulded, he +lacks either strength or endurance. On the contrary, he possesses both +in a marked degree, and his deftness of finger is not less remarkable +than the suppleness and activity of his body. + +_Moral Characteristics._--The most prominent trait of Japanese +disposition is gaiety of heart. Emphatically of a laughter-loving +nature, the Japanese passes through the world with a smile on his lips. +The petty ills of life do not disturb his equanimity. He takes them as +part of the day's work, and though he sometimes grumbles, rarely, if +ever, does he repine. Exceptional to this general rule, however, is a +mood of pessimism which sometimes overtakes youths on the threshold of +manhood. Finding the problem of life insolvable, they abandon the +attempt to solve it and take refuge in the grave. It seems as though +there were always a number of young men hovering on the brink of such +suicidal despair. An example alone is needed finally to destroy the +equilibrium. Some one throws himself over a cataract or leaps into the +crater of a volcano, and immediately a score or two follow. Apparently +the more picturesquely awful the manner of the demise, the greater its +attractive force. The thing is not a product of insanity, as the term is +usually interpreted; letters always left behind by the victims prove +them to have been in full possession of their reasoning faculties up to +the last moment. Some observers lay the blame at the door of Buddhism, a +creed which promotes pessimism by begetting the anchorite, the ascetic +and the shuddering believer in seven hells. But Buddhism did not +formerly produce such incidents, and, for the rest, the faith of Shaka +has little sway over the student mind in Japan. The phenomenon is +modern: it is not an outcome of Japanese nature nor yet of Buddhist +teaching, but is due to the stress of endeavouring to reach the +standards of Western acquirement with grievously inadequate equipment, +opportunities and resources. In order to support himself and pay his +academic fees many a Japanese has to fall into the ranks of the physical +labourer during a part of each day or night. Ill-nourished, over-worked +and, it may be, disappointed, he finds the struggle intolerable and so +passes out into the darkness. But he is not a normal type. The normal +type is light-hearted and buoyant. One naturally expects to find, and +one does find, that this moral sunshine is associated with good temper. +The Japanese is exceptionally serene. Irascibility is regarded as +permissible in sickly children only: grown people are supposed to be +superior to displays of impatience. But there is a limit of +imperturbability, and when that limit is reached, the subsequent passion +is desperately vehement. It has been said that these traits go to make +the Japanese soldier what he is. The hardships of a campaign cause him +little suffering since he never frets over them, but the hour of combat +finds him forgetful of everything save victory. In the case of the +military class--and prior to the Restoration of 1867 the term "military +class" was synonymous with "educated class"--this spirit of stoicism was +built up by precept on a solid basis of heredity. The _samurai_ +(soldier) learned that his first characteristic must be to suppress all +outward displays of emotion. Pain, pleasure, passion and peril must all +find him unperturbed. The supreme test, satisfied so frequently as to be +commonplace, was a shocking form of suicide performed with a placid +mien. This capacity, coupled with readiness to sacrifice life at any +moment on the altar of country, fief or honour, made a remarkably heroic +character. On the other hand, some observers hold that the education of +this stoicism was effected at the cost of the feelings it sought to +conceal. In support of that theory it is pointed out that the average +Japanese, man or woman, will recount a death or some other calamity in +his own family with a perfectly calm, if not a smiling, face. Probably +there is a measure of truth in the criticism. Feelings cannot be +habitually hidden without being more or less blunted. But here another +Japanese trait presents itself--politeness. There is no more polite +nation in the world than the Japanese. Whether in real courtesy of heart +they excel Occidentals may be open to doubt, but in all the forms of +comity they are unrivalled. Now one of the cardinal rules of politeness +is to avoid burdening a stranger with the weight of one's own woes. +Therefore a mother, passing from the chamber which has just witnessed +her paroxysms of grief, will describe calmly to a stranger--especially a +foreigner--the death of her only child. The same suppression of +emotional display in public is observed in all the affairs of life. +Youths and maidens maintain towards each other a demeanour of reserve +and even indifference, from which it has been confidently affirmed that +love does not exist in Japan. The truth is that in no other country do +so many dual suicides occur--suicides of a man and woman who, unable to +be united in this world, go to a union beyond the grave. It is true, +nevertheless, that love as a prelude to marriage finds only a small +place in Japanese ethics. Marriages in the great majority of cases are +arranged with little reference to the feelings of the parties concerned. +It might be supposed that conjugal fidelity must suffer from such a +custom. It does suffer seriously in the case of the husband, but +emphatically not in the case of the wife. Even though she be +cognisant--as she often is--of her husband's extra-marital relations, +she abates nothing of the duty which she has been taught to regard as +the first canon of female ethics. From many points of view, indeed, +there is no more beautiful type of character than that of the Japanese +woman. She is entirely unselfish; exquisitely modest without being +anything of a prude; abounding in intelligence which is never obscured +by egoism; patient in the hour of suffering; strong in time of +affliction; a faithful wife; a loving mother; a good daughter; and +capable, as history shows, of heroism rivalling that of the stronger +sex. As to the question of sexual virtue and morality in Japan, grounds +for a conclusive verdict are hard to find. In the interests of hygiene +prostitution is licensed, and that fact is by many critics construed as +proof of tolerance. But licensing is associated with strict segregation, +and it results that the great cities are conspicuously free from +evidences of vice, and that the streets may be traversed by women at all +hours of the day and night with perfect impunity and without fear of +encountering offensive spectacles. The ratio of marriages is +approximately 8.46 per thousand units of the population, and the ratio +of divorces is 1.36 per thousand. There are thus about 16 divorces for +every hundred marriages. Divorces take place chiefly among the lower +orders, who frequently treat marriage merely as a test of a couple's +suitability to be helpmates in the struggles of life. If experience +develops incompatibility of temper or some other mutually repellent +characteristic, separation follows as a matter of course. On the other +hand, divorces among persons of the upper classes are comparatively +rare, and divorces on account of a wife's unfaithfulness are almost +unknown. + +Concerning the virtues of truth and probity, extremely conflicting +opinions have been expressed. The Japanese _samurai_ always prided +himself on having "no second word." He never drew his sword without +using it; he never gave his word without keeping it. Yet it may be +doubted whether the value attached in Japan to the abstract quality, +truth, is as high as the value attached to it in England, or whether the +consciousness of having told a falsehood weighs as heavily on the heart. +Much depends upon the motive. Whatever may be said of the upper class, +it is probably true that the average Japanese will not sacrifice +expediency on the altar of truth. He will be veracious only so long as +the consequences are not seriously injurious. Perhaps no more can be +affirmed of any nation. The "white lie" of the Anglo-Saxon and the +_hoben no uso_ of the Japanese are twins. In the matter of probity, +however, it is possible to speak with more assurance. There is +undoubtedly in the lower ranks of Japanese tradesmen a comparatively +large fringe of persons whose standard of commercial morality is +defective. They are descendants of feudal days when the mercantile +element, being counted as the dregs of the population, lost its +self-respect. Against this blemish--which is in process of gradual +correction--the fact has to be set that the better class of merchants, +the whole of the artisans and the labouring classes in general, obey +canons of probity fully on a level with the best to be found elsewhere. +For the rest, frugality, industry and patience characterize all the +bread-winners; courage and burning patriotism are attributes of the +whole nation. + +There are five qualities possessed by the Japanese in a marked degree. +The first is frugality. From time immemorial the great mass of the +people have lived in absolute ignorance of luxury in any form and in the +perpetual presence of a necessity to economize. Amid these circumstances +there has emerged capacity to make a little go a long way and to be +content with the most meagre fare. The second quality is endurance. It +is born of causes cognate with those which have begotten frugality. The +average Japanese may be said to live without artificial heat; his paper +doors admit the light but do not exclude the cold. His brazier barely +suffices to warm his hands and his face. Equally is he a stranger to +methods of artificial cooling. He takes the frost that winter inflicts +and the fever that summer brings as unavoidable visitors. The third +quality is obedience; the offspring of eight centuries passed under the +shadow of military autocracy. Whatever he is authoritatively bidden to +do, that the Japanese will do. The fourth quality is altruism. In the +upper classes the welfare of the family has been set above the interests +of each member. The fifth quality is a genius for detail. Probably this +is the outcome of an extraordinarily elaborate system of social +etiquette. Each generation has added something to the canons of its +predecessor, and for every ten points preserved not more than one has +been discarded. An instinctive respect for minutiae has thus been +inculcated, and has gradually extended to all the affairs of life. That +this accuracy may sometimes degenerate into triviality, and that such +absorption in trifles may occasionally hide the broad horizon, is +conceivable. But the only hitherto apparent evidence of such defects is +an excessive clinging to the letter of the law; a marked reluctance to +exercise discretion; and that, perhaps, is attributable rather to the +habit of obedience. Certainly the Japanese have proved themselves +capable of great things, and their achievements seem to have been helped +rather than retarded by their attention to detail. + + +III.--LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE + +_Language._--Since the year 1820, when Klaproth concluded that the +Japanese language had sprung from the Ural-Altaic stock, philologists +have busied themselves in tracing its affinities. If the theories +hitherto held with regard to the origin of the Japanese people be +correct, close relationship should exist between the Japanese and the +Korean tongues, and possibly between the Japanese and the Chinese. Aston +devoted much study to the former question, but although he proved that +in construction the two have a striking similarity, he could not find +any corresponding likeness in their vocabularies. As far back as the +beginning of the Christian era the Japanese and the Koreans could not +hold intercourse without the aid of interpreters. If then the languages +of Korea and Japan had a common stock, they must have branched off from +it at a date exceedingly remote. As for the languages of Japan and +China, they have remained essentially different throughout some twenty +centuries in spite of the fact that Japan adopted Chinese calligraphy +and assimilated Chinese literature. Mr K. Hirai has done much to +establish his theory that Japanese and Aryan had a common parent. But +nothing has yet been substantiated. Meanwhile an inquirer is confronted +by the strange fact that of three neighbouring countries between which +frequent communication existed, one (China) never deviated from an +ideographic script; another (Korea) invented an alphabet, and the third +(Japan) devised a syllabary. Antiquaries have sought to show that Japan +possessed some form of script before her first contact with either Korea +or China. But such traces of prehistoric letters as are supposed to have +been found seem to be corruptions of the Korean alphabet rather than +independent symbols. It is commonly believed that the two Japanese +syllabaries--which, though distinct in form, have identical sounds--were +invented by Kukai (790) and Kibi Daijin (760) respectively. But the +evidence of old documents seems to show that these syllabaries had a +gradual evolution and that neither was the outcome of a single scholar's +inventive genius. + + The sequence of events appears to have been this:--Japan's earliest + contact with an over-sea people was with the Koreans, and she made + some tentative efforts to adapt their alphabet to the expression of + her own language. Traces of these efforts survived, and inspired the + idea that the art of writing was practised by the Japanese before the + opening of intercourse with their continental neighbours. Korea, + however, had neither a literary nor an ethical message to deliver, and + thus her script failed to attract much attention. Very different was + the case when China presented her noble code of Confucian philosophy + and the literature embodying it. The Japanese then recognized a lofty + civilization and placed themselves as pupils at its feet, learning its + script and deciphering its books. Their veneration extended to + ideographs. At first they adapted them frankly to their own tongue. + For example, the ideographs signifying _rice_ or _metal_ or _water_ in + Chinese were used to convey the same ideas in Japanese. Each ideograph + thus came to have two sounds, one Japanese, the other Chinese--e.g. + the ideograph for _rice_ had for Japanese sound _kome_ and for Chinese + sound _bei_. Nor was this the whole story. There were two epochs in + Japan's study of the Chinese language: first, the epoch when she + received Confucianism through Korea; and, secondly, the epoch when she + began to study Buddhism direct from China. Whether the sounds that + came by Korea were corrupt, or whether the interval separating these + epochs had sufficed to produce a sensible difference of pronunciation + in China itself, it would seem that the students of Buddhism who + flocked from Japan to the Middle Kingdom during the Sui era (A.D. + 589-619) insisted on the accuracy of the pronunciation acquired there, + although it diverged perceptibly from the pronunciation already + recognized in Japan. Thus, in fine, each word came to have three + sounds--two Chinese, known as the _kan_ and the _go_, and one + Japanese, known as the _kun_. For example:-- + + "KAN" "GO" JAPANESE + SOUND. SOUND. SOUND. MEANING. + + _Sei_ _Jo_ _Koe_ Voice + _Nen_ _Zen_ _Toshi_ Year + _Jinkan_ _Ningen_ _Hito no aida_ Human being. + + + As to which of the first two methods of pronunciation had + chronological precedence, the weight of opinion is that the kan came + later than the _go_. Evidently this triplication of sounds had many + disadvantages, but, on the other hand, the whole Chinese language may + be said to have been grafted on the Japanese. Chinese has the widest + capacity of any tongue ever invented. It consists of thousands of + monosyllabic roots, each having a definite meaning. These + monosyllables may be used singly or combined, two, three or four at a + time, so that the resulting combinations convey almost any conceivable + shades of meaning. Take, for example, the word "electricity." The very + idea conveyed was wholly novel in Japan. But scholars were immediately + able to construct the following:-- + + Lightning. _Den._ + Exhalation. _Ki._ + Electricity. _Denki._ + Telegram. _Dempo._ _Ho_ = tidings. + Electric light. _Dento._ _To_ = lamp. + Negative electricity. _Indenki._ _In_ = the negative principle. + Positive electricity. _Yodenki._ _Yo_ = the positive principle. + Thermo-electricity. _Netsudenki._ _Netsu_ = heat. + Dynamic-electricity. _Ryudo-denki._ _Ryudo_ = fluid. + Telephone. _Denwa._ _Wa_= conversation. + + Every branch of learning can thus be equipped with a vocabulary. + Potent, however, as such a vehicle is for expressing thought, its + ideographic script constitutes a great obstacle to general + acquisition, and the Japanese soon applied themselves to minimizing + the difficulty by substituting a phonetic system. Analysis showed that + all the required sounds could be conveyed with 47 syllables, and + having selected the ideographs that corresponded to those sounds, they + reduced them, first, to forms called _hiragana_, and, secondly, to + still more simplified forms called _katakana_. + + Such, in brief, is the story of the Japanese language. When we come to + dissect it, we find several striking characteristics. First, the + construction is unlike that of any European tongue: all qualifiers + precede the words they qualify, except prepositions which become + postpositions. Thus instead of saying "the house of Mr Smith is in + that street," a Japanese says "Smith Mr of house that street in is." + Then there is no relative pronoun, and the resulting complication + seems great to an English-speaking person, as the following + illustration will show:-- + + JAPANESE. ENGLISH. + + _Zenaku wo saiban suru tame no_ The unique standard which is used + Virtue vice-judging sake of for judging virtue or vice is + _mochiitaru yuitsu no hyojun wa_ benevolent conduct solely. + used unique standard + _jiai no koi tada_ + benevolence of conduct only + _kore nomi._ + this alone. + + It will be observed that in the above sentence there are two + untranslated words, _wo_ and _wa_. These belong to a group of four + auxiliary particles called _te_ _ni_ _wo_ _ha_ (or _wa_), which serve + to mark the cases of nouns, _te_ (or _de_) being the sign of the + instrumental ablative; _ni_ that of the dative; _wo_ that of the + objective, and _wa_ that of the nominative. These exist in the Korean + language also, but not in any other tongue. There are also polite and + ordinary forms of expression, often so different as to constitute + distinct languages; and there are a number of honorifics which + frequently discharge the duty of pronouns. Another marked peculiarity + is that active agency is never attributed to neuter nouns. A Japanese + does not say "the poison killed him" but "he died on account of the + poison;" nor does he say "the war has caused commodities to + appreciate," but "commodities have appreciated in consequence of the + war." That the language loses much force owing to this limitation + cannot be denied: metaphor and allegory are almost completely + banished. + + The difficulties that confront an Occidental who attempts to learn + Japanese are enormous. There are three languages to be acquired: + first, the ordinary colloquial; second, the polite colloquial; and, + third, the written. The ordinary colloquial differs materially from + its polite form, and both are as unlike the written form as modern + Italian is unlike ancient Latin. "Add to this," writes Professor B. H. + Chamberlain, "the necessity of committing to memory two syllabaries, + one of which has many variant forms, and at least two or three + thousand Chinese ideographs, in forms standard and + cursive--ideographs, too, most of which are susceptible of three or + four different readings according to circumstance,--add, further, that + all these kinds of written symbols are apt to be encountered pell mell + on the same page, and the task of mastering Japanese becomes almost + Herculean." In view of all this there is a strong movement in favour + of romanizing the Japanese script: that is to say, abolishing the + ideograph and adopting in its place the Roman alphabet. But while + every one appreciates the magnitude of the relief that would thus be + afforded, there has as yet been little substantial progress. A + language which has been adapted from its infancy to ideographic + transmission cannot easily be fitted to phonetic uses. + + _Dictionaries._--F. Brinkley, _An Unabridged Japanese-English + Dictionary_ (Tokyo, 1896); Y. Shimada, _English-Japanese Dictionary_, + (Tokyo, 1897); _Webster's Dictionary, trans. into Japanese_, (Tokyo, + 1899); J. H. Gubbins, _Dictionary of Chinese-Japanese Words_ (3 + vols., London, 1889); J. C. Hepburn, _Japanese-English and + English-Japanese Dictionary_ (London, 1903); E. M. Satow and I. + Masakata, _English-Japanese Dictionary_ (London, 1904). + +_Literature._--From the neighbouring continent the Japanese derived the +art of transmitting ideas to paper. But as to the date of that +acquisition there is doubt. An authenticated work compiled A.D. 720 +speaks of historiographers having been appointed to collect local +records for the first time in 403, from which it is to be inferred that +such officials had already existed at the court. There is also a +tradition that some kind of general history was compiled in 620 but +destroyed by fire in 645. At all events, the earliest book now extant +dates from 712. Its origin is described in its preface. When the emperor +Temmu (673-686) ascended the throne, he found that there did not exist +any revised collection of the fragmentary annals of the chief families. +He therefore caused these annals to be collated. There happened to be +among the court ladies one Hiyeda no Are, who was gifted with an +extraordinary memory. Measures were taken to instruct her in the genuine +traditions and the old language of former ages, the intention being to +have the whole ultimately dictated to a competent scribe. But the +emperor died before the project could be consummated, and for +twenty-five years Are's memory remained the sole depository of the +collected annals. Then, under the auspices of the empress Gemmyo, the +original plan was carried out in 712, Yasumaro being the scribe. The +work that resulted is known as the _Kojiki_ (_Record of Ancient +Matters_). It has been accurately translated by Professor B. H. +Chamberlain (_Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan_, vol. x.), +who, in a preface justly regarded by students of Japan as an exegetical +classic, makes the pertinent comment: "Taking the word Altaïc in its +usual acceptation, viz. as the generic name of all the languages +belonging to the Manchu, Mongolian, Turkish and Finnish groups, not only +the archaic, but the classical, literature of Japan carries us back +several centuries beyond the earliest extant documents of any other +Altaïc tongue." By the term "archaic" is to be understood the pure +Japanese language of earliest times, and by the term "classical" the +quasi-Chinese language which came into use for literary purposes when +Japan appropriated the civilization of her great neighbours. The +_Kojiki_ is written in the archaic form: that is to say, the language is +the language of old Japan, the script, although ideographic, is used +phonetically only, and the case-indicators are represented by Chinese +characters having the same sounds. It is a species of saga, setting +forth not only the heavenly beginnings of the Japanese race, but also +the story of creation, the succession of the various sovereigns and the +salient events of their reigns, the whole interspersed with songs, many +of which may be attributed to the 6th century, while some doubtless date +from the fourth or even the third. This _Kojiki_ marks the parting of +the ways. Already by the time of its compilation the influence of +Chinese civilization and Chinese literature had prevailed so greatly in +Japan that the next authentic work, composed only eight years later, was +completely Chinese in style and embodied Chinese traditions and Chinese +philosophical doctrines, not distinguishing them from their Japanese +context. This volume was called the _Nihongi_ (_Chronicles of Japan_). +It may be said to have wholly supplanted its predecessor in popular +favour, for the classic style--that is to say, the Chinese--had now come +to be regarded as the only erudite script. The _Chronicles_ re-traversed +much of the ground already gone over by the _Record_, preserving many of +the songs in occasionally changed form, omitting some portions, +supplementing others, and imparting to the whole such an exotic +character as almost to disqualify the work for a place in Japanese +literature. Yet this was the style which thenceforth prevailed among the +litterati of Japan. "Standard Chinese soon became easier to understand +than archaic Japanese, as the former alone was taught in the schools, +and the native language changed rapidly during the century or two that +followed the diffusion of the foreign tongue and civilization" +(CHAMBERLAIN). The neglect into which the _Kojiki_ fell lasted until the +17th century. Almost simultaneously with its appearance in type (1644) +and its consequent accessibility, there arose a galaxy of scholars +under whose influence the archaic style and the ancient Japanese +traditions entered a period of renaissance. The story of this period and +of its products has been admirably told by Sir Ernest Satow ("Revival of +Pure Shinto," _Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Japan_, vol. iii.), +whose essay, together with Professor Chamberlain's _Kojiki_, the same +author's introduction to _The Classical Poetry of the Japanese_, and Mr +W. G. Aston's _Nihongi_, are essential to every student of Japanese +literature. To understand this 17th century renaissance, knowledge of +one fact is necessary, namely, that about the year A. D. 810, a +celebrated Buddhist priest, Kukai, who had spent several years studying +in China, compounded out of Buddhism, Confucianism and Shinto a system +of doctrine called _Ryobu Shinto_ (Dual Shinto), the prominent tenet of +which was that the Shinto deities were merely transmigrations of +Buddhist divinities. By this device Japanese conservatism was +effectually conciliated, and Buddhism became in fact the creed of the +nation, its positive and practical precepts entirely eclipsing the +agnostic intuitionalism of Shinto. Against this hybrid faith several +Japanese scholars arrayed themselves in the 17th and 18th centuries, the +greatest of them being Mabuchi and Motoori. The latter's _magnum opus_, +_Kojikiden_ (_Exposition of the Record of Ancient Matters_), declared by +Chamberlain to be "perhaps the most admirable work of which Japanese +erudition can boast," consists of 44 large volumes, devoted to +elucidating the _Kojiki_ and resuscitating the Shinto cult as it existed +in the earliest days. This great work of reconstruction was only one +feature of the literary activity which marked the 17th and 18th +centuries, when, under Tokugawa rule, the blessing of long-unknown peace +came to the nation. Iyeyasu himself devoted the last years of his life +to collecting ancient manuscripts. In his country retreat at Shizuoka he +formed one of the richest libraries ever brought together in Japan, and +by will he bequeathed the Japanese section of it to his eighth son, the +feudal chief of Owari, and the Chinese section to his ninth son, the +prince of Kishu, with the result that under the former feudatory's +auspices two works of considerable merit were produced treating of +ancient ceremonials and supplementing the _Nihongi_. Much more +memorable, however, was a library formed by Iyeyasu's grandson the +feudal chief of Mito (1662-1700), who not only collected a vast quantity +of books hitherto scattered among Shinto and Buddhist monasteries and +private houses, but also employed a number of scholars to compile a +history unprecedented in magnitude, the _Dai-Nihon-shi_. It consisted of +240 volumes, and it became at once the standard in its own branch of +literature. Still more comprehensive was a book emanating from the same +source and treating of court ceremonials. It ran to more than 500 +volumes, and the emperor honoured the work by bestowing on it the title +_Reigi Ruiten_ (_Rules of Ceremonials_). These compilations together +with the _Nihon Gwaishi_ (_History of Japan Outside the Court_), written +by Rai Sanyo and published in 1827, constituted the chief sources of +historical knowledge before the Meiji era. Rai Sanyo devoted twenty +years to the preparation of his 22 volumes and took his materials from +259 Japanese and Chinese works. But neither he nor his predecessors +recognized in history anything more than a vehicle for recording the +mere sequence of events and their relations, together with some account +of the personages concerned. Their volumes make profoundly dry reading. +Vicarious interest, however, attaches to the productions of the Mito +School on account of the political influence they exercised in +rehabilitating the nation's respect for the throne by unveiling the +picture of an epoch prior to the usurpations of military feudalism. The +struggles of the great rival clans, replete with episodes of the most +tragic and stirring character, inspired quasi-historical narrations of a +more popular character, which often took the form of illuminated +scrolls. But it was not until the Meiji era that history, in the modern +sense of the term, began to be written. During recent times many +students have turned their attention to this branch of literature. Works +of wide scope and clear insight have been produced, and the +Historiographers' section in the Imperial University of Tokyo has been +for several years engaged in collecting and collating materials for a +history which will probably rank with anything of the kind in existence. + + + Poetry. + + In their poetry above everything the Japanese have remained impervious + to alien influences. It owes this conservation to its prosody. Without + rhyme, without variety of metre, without elasticity of dimensions, it + is also without known counterpart. To alter it in any way would be to + deprive it of all distinguishing characteristics. At some remote date + a Japanese maker of songs seems to have discovered that a peculiar and + very fascinating rhythm is produced by lines containing 5 syllables + and 7 syllables alternately. That is Japanese poetry (_uta_ or + _tanka_). There are generally five lines: the first and third + consisting of 5 syllables, the second, fourth and fifth of 7, making a + total of 31 in all. The number of lines is not compulsory: sometimes + they may reach to thirty, forty or even more, but the alternation of 5 + and 7 syllables is compulsory. The most attenuated form of all is the + _hokku_ (or _haikai_) which consists of only three lines, namely, 17 + syllables. Necessarily the ideas embodied in such a narrow vehicle + must be fragmentary. Thus it results that Japanese poems are, for the + most part, impressionist; they suggest a great deal more than they + actually express. Here is an example:-- + + Momiji-ha wo \ + Kaze ni makasete | More fleeting than the glint of + Miru yori mo > withered leaf wind-blown, the + Hakanaki mono wa | thing called life. + Inochi nari keri / + + There is no English metre with this peculiar cadence. + + It is not to be inferred that the writers of Japan, enamoured as they + were of Chinese ideographs and Chinese style, deliberately excluded + everything Chinese from the realm of poetry. On the contrary, many of + them took pleasure in composing versicles to which Chinese words were + admitted and which showed something of the "parallelism" peculiar to + Chinese poetry, since the first ideograph of the last line was + required to be identical with the final ideograph. But rhyme was not + attempted, and the syllabic metre of Japan was preserved, the + alternation of 5 and 7 being, however, dispensed with. Such couplets + were called _shi_ to distinguish them from the pure Japanese _uta_ or + _tanka_. The two greatest masters of Japanese poetry were Hitomaro and + Akahito, both of the early 8th century, and next to them stands + Tsurayuki, who flourished at the beginning of the 10th century, and is + not supposed to have transmitted his mantle to any successor. The + choicest productions of the former two with those of many other poets + were brought together in 756 and embodied in a book called the + _Manyoshu (Collection of a Myriad Leaves)_. The volume remained unique + until the beginning of the 10th century, when (A.D. 905) Tsurayuki and + three coadjutors compiled the _Kokinshu (Collection of Odes Ancient + and Modern)_, the first of twenty-one similar anthologies between the + 11th and the 15th centuries, which constitute the _Niju-ichi Dai-shu + (Anthologies of the One-and-Twenty Reigns)_. If to these we add the + _Hyaku-ninshu (Hundred Odes by a Hundred Poets)_ brought together by + Teika Kyo in the 13th century, we have all the classics of Japanese + poetry. For the composition of the _uta_ gradually deteriorated from + the end of the 9th century, when a game called _uta-awase_ became a + fashionable pastime, and aristocratic men and women tried to string + together versicles of 31 syllables, careful of the form and careless + of the thought. The _uta-awase_, in its later developments, may not + unjustly be compared to the Occidental game of _bouts-rimés_. The + poetry of the nation remained immovable in the ancient groove until + very modern times, when, either by direct access to the originals or + through the medium of very defective translations, the nation became + acquainted with the masters of Occidental song. A small coterie of + authors, headed by Professor Toyama, then attempted to revolutionize + Japanese poetry by recasting it on European lines. But the project + failed signally, and indeed it may well be doubted whether the + Japanese language can be adapted to such uses. + + + Influence of Women in Japanese Literature. + + It was under the auspices of an empress (Suiko) that the first + historical manuscript is said to have been compiled in 620. It was + under the auspices of an empress (Gemmyo) that the _Record of Ancient + Matters_ was transcribed (712) from the lips of a court lady. And it + was under the auspices of an empress that the _Chronicles of Japan_ + were composed (720). To women, indeed, from the 8th century onwards + may be said to have been entrusted the guardianship of the pure + Japanese language, the classical, or Chinese, form being adopted by + men. The distinction continued throughout the ages. To this day the + spoken language of Japanese women is appreciably simpler and softer + than that of the men, and to this day while the educated woman uses + the hiragana syllabary in writing, eschews Chinese words and rarely + pens an ideograph, the educated man employs the ideograph entirely, + and translates his thoughts as far as possible into the mispronounced + Chinese words without recourse to which it would be impossible for him + to discuss any scientific subject, or even to refer to the details of + his daily business. Japan was thus enriched with two works of very + high merit, the _Genji Monogatari_ (c. 1004) and the _Makura no Zoshi_ + (about the same date). The former, by Murasaki no Shikibu--probably a + pseudonym--was the first novel composed in Japan. Before her time + there had been many _monogatari_ (narratives), but all consisted + merely of short stories, mythical or quasi-historical, whereas + Murasaki no Shikibu did for Japan what Fielding and Richardson did for + England. Her work was "a prose epic of real life," the life of her + hero, _Genji_. Her language is graceful and natural, her sentiments + are refined and sober; and, as Mr Aston well says, her "story flows on + easily from one scene of real life to another, giving us a varied and + minutely detailed picture of life and society in Kioto, such as we + possess for no other country at the same period." The _Makura no Zoshi + (Pillow Sketches)_, like the _Genji Monogatari_, was by a noble + lady--Sei Shonagon--but it is simply a record of daily events and + fugitive thoughts, though not in the form of a diary. The book is one + of the most natural and unaffected compositions ever written. + Undesignedly it conveys a wonderfully realistic picture of + aristocratic life and social ethics in Kioto at the beginning of the + 11th century. "If we compare it with anything that Europe has to show + at this period, it must be admitted that it is indeed a remarkable + work. What a revelation it would be if we had the court life of + Alfred's or Canute's reign depicted to us in a similar way?" + + + The Dark Age. + + The period from the early part of the 14th century to the opening of + the 17th is generally regarded as the dark age of Japanese literature. + The constant wars of the time left their impress upon everything. To + them is due the fact that the two principal works compiled during this + epoch were, one political, the other quasi-historical. In the former, + _Jinkoshoto-ki (History of the True Succession of the Divine + Monarchs)_, Kitabatake Chikafusa (1340) undertook to prove that of the + two sovereigns then disputing for supremacy in Japan, Go-Daigo was the + rightful monarch; in the latter, _Taihei-ki (History of Great Peace)_, + Kojima (1370) devoted his pages to describing the events of + contemporaneous history. Neither work can be said to possess signal + literary merit, but both had memorable consequences. For the + _Jinkoshoto-ki_, by its strong advocacy of the mikado's administrative + rights as against the usurpations of military feudalism, may be said + to have sowed the seeds of Japan's modern polity; and the _Taihei-ki_, + by its erudite diction, skilful rhetoric, simplification of old + grammatical constructions and copious interpolation of Chinese words, + furnished a model for many imitators and laid the foundations of + Japan's 19th-century style. The _Taihei-ki_ produced another notable + effect; it inspired public readers who soon developed into historical + _raconteurs_; a class of professionals who are almost as much in vogue + to-day as they were 500 years ago. Belonging to about the same period + as the _Jinkoshoto-ki_, another classic occupies a leading place in + Japanese esteem. It is the _Tsure-zure-gusa (Materials for Dispelling + Ennui)_, by Kenko-boshi, described by Mr Aston as "one of the most + delightful oases in Japanese literature; a collection of short + sketches, anecdotes and essays on all imaginable subjects, something + in the manner of Selden's _Table Talk_." + + + The Drama. + + The so-called dark age of Japanese literature was not entirely + unproductive: it gave the drama (_No_) to Japan. Tradition ascribes + the origin of the drama to a religious dance of a pantomimic + character, called _Kagura_ and associated with Shinto ceremonials. The + No, however, owed its development mainly to Buddhist influence. During + the medieval era of internecine strife the Buddhist priests were the + sole depositaries of literary talent, and seeing that, from the close + of the 14th century, the Shinto mime (Kagura) was largely employed by + the military class to invoke or acknowledge the assistance of the + gods, the monks of Buddha set themselves to compose librettos for this + mime, and the performance, thus modified, received the name of No. + Briefly speaking, the No was a dance of the most stately character, + adapted to the incidents of dramas "which embrace within their scope a + world of legendary lore, of quaint fancies and of religious + sentiment." Their motives were chiefly confined to such themes as the + law of retribution to which all human beings are subjected, the + transitoriness of life and the advisability of shaking off from one's + feet the dust of this sinful world. But some were of a purely martial + nature. This difference is probably explained by the fact that the + idea of thus modifying the Kagura had its origin in musical + recitations from the semi-romantic semi-historical narratives of the + 14th century. Such recitations were given by itinerant Bonzes, and it + is easy to understand the connexion between them and the No. Very soon + the No came to occupy in the estimation of the military class a + position similar to that held by the _tanka_ as a literary pursuit, + and the _gagaku_ as a musical, in the Imperial court. All the great + aristocrats not only patronized the No but were themselves ready to + take part in it. Costumes of the utmost magnificence were worn, and + the chiselling of masks for the use of the performers occupied scores + of artists and ranked as a high glyptic accomplishment. There are 335 + classical dramas of this kind in a compendium called the _Yokyoka + Tsuge_, and many of them are inseparably connected with the names of + Kwanami Kiyotsugu (1406) and his son Motokiyo (1455), who are counted + the fathers of the art. For a moment, when the tide of Western + civilization swept over Japan, the No seemed likely to be permanently + submerged. But the renaissance of nationalism (_kokusui hoson_) saved + the venerable drama, and owing to the exertions of Prince Iwakura, the + artist Hosho Kuro and Umewaka Minoru, it stands as high as ever in + popular favour. Concerning the five schools into which the No is + divided, their characteristics and their differences--these are + matters of interest to the initiated alone. + + + The Farce. + + The Japanese are essentially a laughter-loving people. They are highly + susceptible of tragic emotions, but they turn gladly to the brighter + phases of life. Hence a need was soon felt of something to dispel the + pessimism of the No, and that something took the form of comedies + played in the interludes of the No and called _Kyogen_ (mad words). + The Kyogen needs no elaborate description: it is a pure farce, never + immodest or vulgar. + + + The Theatre. + + The classic drama No and its companion the Kyogen had two children, + the _Joruri_ and the _Kabuki_. They were born at the close of the 16th + century and they owed their origin to the growing influence of the + commercial class, who asserted a right to be amused but were excluded + from enjoyment of the aristocratic No and the Kyogen. The Joruri is a + dramatic ballad, sung or recited to the accompaniment of the _samisen_ + and in unison with the movements of puppets. It came into existence in + Kioto and was thence transferred to Yedo (Tokyo), where the greatest + of Japanese playwrights, Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1724), and a + musician of exceptional talent, Takemoto Gidayu, collaborated to + render this puppet drama a highly popular entertainment. It flourished + for nearly 200 years in Yedo, and is still occasionally performed in + Osaka. Like the No the Joruri dealt always with sombre themes, and was + supplemented by the Kabuki (farce). This last owed its inception to a + priestess who, having abandoned her holy vocation at the call of love, + espoused dancing as a means of livelihood and trained a number of + girls for the purpose. The law presently interdicted these female + comedians (_onna-kabuki_) in the interests of public morality, and + they were succeeded by "boy comedians" (_wakashu-kabuki_) who + simulated women's ways and were vetoed in their turn, giving place to + _yaro-kabuki_ (comedians with queues). Gradually the Kabuki developed + the features of a genuine theatre; the actor and the playwright were + discriminated, and, the performances taking the form of domestic drama + (_Wagoto_ and _Sewamono_) or historical drama (_Aragoto_ or + _Jidaimono_), actors of perpetual fame sprang up, as Sakata Tojuro and + Ichikawa Danjinro (1660-1704). Mimetic posture-dances (_Shosagoto_) + were always introduced as interludes; past and present + indiscriminately contributed to the playwright's subjects; realism was + carried to extremes; a revolving stage and all mechanical accessories + were supplied; female parts were invariably taken by males, who + attained almost incredible skill in these simulations; a chorus--relic + of the No--chanted expositions of profound sentiments or thrilling + incidents; and histrionic talent of the very highest order was often + displayed. But the _Kabuki-za_ and its _yakusha_ (actors) remained + always a plebeian institution. No _samurai_ frequented the former or + associated with the latter. With the introduction of Western + civilization in modern times, however, the theatre ceased to be + tabooed by the aristocracy. Men and women of all ranks began to visit + it; the emperor himself consented (1887) to witness a performance by + the great stars of the stage at the private residence of Marquis + Inouye; a dramatic reform association was organized by a number of + prominent noblemen and scholars; drastic efforts were made to purge + the old historical dramas of anachronisms and inconsistencies, and at + length a theatre (the _Yuraku-za_) was built on purely European lines, + where instead of sitting from morning to night witnessing one + long-drawn-out drama with interludes of whole farces, a visitor may + devote only a few evening-hours to the pastime. The Shosagoto has not + been abolished, nor is there any reason why it should be. It has + graces and beauties of its own. There remains to be noted the + incursion of amateurs into the histrionic realm. In former times the + actor's profession was absolutely exclusive in Japan. Children were + trained to wear their fathers' mantles, and the idea that a + non-professional could tread the hallowed ground of the stage did not + enter any imagination. But with the advent of the new regimen in Meiji + days there arose a desire for social plays depicting the life of the + modern generation, and as these "croppy dramas" (_zampatsu-mono_)--so + called in allusion to the European method of cutting the hair + close--were not included in the repertoire of the orthodox theatre, + amateur troupes (known as _soshi-yakusha_) were organized to fill the + void. Even Shakespeare has been played by these amateurs, and the + abundant wit of the Japanese is on the way to enrich the stage with + modern farces of unquestionable merit. + + + Literature of the Tokugawa Era. + + The Tokugawa era (1603-1867), which popularized the drama, had other + memorable effects upon Japanese literature. Yedo, the shogun's + capital, displaced Kioto as the centre of literary activity. Its + population of more than a million, including all sorts and conditions + of men--notably wealthy merchants and mechanics--constituted a new + audience to which authors had to address themselves; and an + unparalleled development of mental activity necessitated wholesale + drafts upon the Chinese vocabulary. To this may be attributed the + appearance of a group of men known as _kangakusha_ (Chinese scholars). + The most celebrated among them were: Fujiwara Seikwa (1560-1619), who + introduced his countrymen to the philosophy of Chu-Hi; Hayashi Rasan + (1583-1657), who wrote 170 treatises on scholastic and moral subjects; + Kaibara Ekken (1630-1714), teacher of a fine system of ethics; Arai + Hakuseki (1657-1725), historian, philosopher, statesman and financier: + and Muro Kiuso, the second great exponent of Chu-Hi's philosophy. + "Japan owes a profound debt of gratitude to the _kangakusha_ of that + time. For their day and country they were emphatically the salt of + earth." But naturally not all were believers in the same philosophy. + The fervour of the followers of Chu-Hi (the orthodox school) could not + fail to provoke opposition. Thus some arose who declared allegiance to + the idealistic intuitionalism of Wang Yang-ming, and others advocated + direct study of the works of Confucius and Mencius. Connected with + this rejection of Chu-Hi were such eminent names as those of Ito + Junsai (1627-1718), Ito Togai (1617-1736), Ogyu Sorai (1666-1728) and + Dazai Shuntai (1679-1747). These Chinese scholars made no secret of + their contempt for Buddhism, and in their turn they were held in + aversion by the Buddhists and the Japanese scholars (_wagakusha_), so + that the second half of the 18th century was a time of perpetual + wrangling and controversy. The worshippers at the shrine of Chinese + philosophy evoked a reactionary spirit of nationalism, just as the + excessive worship of Occidental civilization was destined to do in the + 19th century. + + Apart from philosophical researches and the development of the drama, + as above related, the Tokugawa era is remarkable for folk-lore, moral + discourses, fiction and a peculiar form of poetry. This last does not + demand much attention. Its principal variety is the _haikai_, which is + nothing more than a _tanka_ shorn of its concluding fourteen + syllables, and therefore virtually identical with the _hokku_, already + described. The name of Basho is immemorially associated with this kind + of lilliputian versicle, which reached the extreme of impressionism. A + more important addition to Japanese literature was made in the 17th + century in the form of children's tales (_Otogibanashi_). They are + charmingly simple and graceful, and they have been rendered into + English again and again since the beginning of the Meiji era. But + whether they are to be regarded as genuine folk-lore or merely as a + branch of the fiction of the age when they first appeared in book + form, remains uncertain. Of fiction proper there was an abundance. The + pioneer of this kind of literature is considered to have been Saikaku + (1641-1693), who wrote sketches of everyday life as he saw it, short + tales of some merit and novels which deal with the most disreputable + phases of human existence. His notable successors in the same line + were two men of Kioto, named Jisho (1675-1745) and Kiseki (1666-1716). + They had their own publishing house, and its name _Hachimonji-ya_ + (figure-of-eight store) came to be indelibly associated with this kind + of literature. But these men did little more than pave the way for the + true romantic novel, which first took shape under the hand of Santo + Kyoden (1761-1816), and culminated in the works of Bakin, Tanehiko, + Samba, Ikku, Shunsui and their successors. Of nearly all the books in + this class it may be said that they deal largely in sensationalism and + pornography, though it does not follow that their language is either + coarse or licentious. The life of the virtuous Japanese woman being + essentially uneventful, these romancists not unnaturally sought their + female types among dancing-girls and courtesans. The books were + profusely illustrated with woodcuts and chromoxylographs from pictures + of the _ukiyoe_ masters, who, like the playwright, the actor and the + romancer, ministered to the pleasure of the "man in the street." Brief + mention must also be made of two other kinds of books belonging to + this epoch; namely, the _Shingaku-sho_ (ethical essays) and the + _Jitsuroku-mono_ (true records). The latter were often little more + than historical novels founded on facts; and the former, though + nominally intended to engraft the doctrines of Buddhism and Shinto + upon the philosophy of China, were really of rationalistic tendency. + + + The Meiji Era. + + Although the incursions made into Chinese philosophy and the revival + of Japanese traditions during the Tokugawa Epoch contributed + materially to the overthrow of feudalism and the restoration of the + Throne's administrative power, the immediate tendency of the last two + events was to divert the nation's attention wholly from the study of + either Confucianism or the _Record of Ancient Matters_. A universal + thirst set in for Occidental science and literature, so that students + occupied themselves everywhere with readers and grammars modelled on + European lines rather than with the Analects or the _Kojiki_. English + at once became the language of learning. Thus the three colleges which + formed the nucleus of the Imperial University of Tokyo were presided + over by a graduate of Michigan College (Professor Toyama), a member of + the English bar (Professor Hozumi) and a graduate of Cambridge (Baron + Kikuchi). If Japan was eminently fortunate in the men who directed her + political career at that time, she was equally favoured in those that + presided over her literary culture. Fukuzawa Yukichi, founder of the + Keio Gijuku, now one of Japan's four universities, did more than any + of his contemporaries by writing and speaking to spread a knowledge of + the West, its ways and its thoughts, and Nakamura Keiu laboured in the + same cause by translating Smiles's _Self-help_ and Mill's + _Representative Government_. A universal geography (by Uchida Masao); + a history of nations (by Mitsukuri Rinsho); a translation of + _Chambers's Encyclopaedia_ by the department of education; Japanese + renderings of Herbert Spencer and of Guizot and Buckle--all these made + their appearance during the first fourteen years of the epoch. The + influence of politics may be strongly traced in the literature of that + time, for the first romances produced by the new school were all of a + political character: _Keikoku Bidan_ (_Model for Statesmen_, with + Epaminondas for hero) by Yano Fumio; _Setchubai (Plum-blossoms in + snow)_ and _Kwakwan-o (Nightingale Among Flowers)_ by Suyehiro. This + idea of subserving literature to political ends is said to have been + suggested by Nakae Tokusuke's translation of Rousseau's _Contrat + social_. The year 1882 saw _Julius Caesar_ in a Japanese dress. The + translator was Tsubouchi Shoyo, one of the greatest writers of the + Meiji era. His _Shosetsu Shinsui (Essentials of a Novel)_ was an + eloquent plea for realism as contrasted with the artificiality of the + characters depicted by Bakin, and his own works illustrative of this + theory took the public by storm. He also brought out the first + literary periodical published in Japan, namely, the _Waseda Bungaku_, + so called because Tsubouchi was professor of literature in the Waseda + University, an institution founded by Count Okuma, whose name cannot + be omitted from any history of Meiji literature, not as an author but + as a patron. As illustrating the rapid development of familiarity with + foreign authors, a Japanese retrospect of the Meiji era notes that + whereas Macaulay's _Essays_ were in the curriculum of the Imperial + University in 1881-1882, they were studied, five or six years later, + in secondary schools, and pupils of the latter were able to read with + understanding the works of Goldsmith, Tennyson and Thackeray. Up to + Tsubouchi's time the Meiji literature was all in the literary + language, but there was then formed a society calling itself + _Kenyusha_, some of whose associates--as Bimyosai--used the colloquial + language in their works, while others--as Koyo, Rohan, &c.--went back + to the classical diction of the Genroku era (1655-1703). Rohan is one + of the most renowned of Japan's modern authors, and some of his + historical romances have had wide vogue. Meanwhile the business of + translating went on apace. Great numbers of European and American + authors were rendered into Japanese--Calderon, Lytton, Disraeli, + Byron, Shakespeare, Milton, Turgueniev, Carlyle, Daudet, Emerson, + Hugo, Heine, De Quincey, Dickens, Körner, Goethe--their name is legion + and their influence upon Japanese literature is conspicuous. In 1888 a + special course of German literature was inaugurated at the Imperial + University, and with it is associated the name of Mori Ogai, Japan's + most faithful interpreter of German thought and speech. Virtually + every literary magnate of the Occident has found one or more + interpreters in modern Japan. Accurate reviewers of the era have + divided it into periods of two or three years each, according to the + various groups of foreign authors that were in vogue, and every year + sees a large addition to the number of Japanese who study the + masterpieces of Western literature in the original. + + + Newspapers and Periodicals. + + Newspapers, as the term is understood in the West, did not exist in + old Japan, though block-printed leaflets were occasionally issued to + describe some specially stirring event. Yet the Japanese were not + entirely unacquainted with journalism. During the last decades of the + factory at Deshima the Dutch traders made it a yearly custom to submit + to the governor of Nagasaki selected extracts from newspapers arriving + from Batavia, and these extracts, having been translated into + Japanese, were forwarded to the court in Yedo together with their + originals. To such compilations the name of _Oranda fusetsu-sho (Dutch + Reports)_ was given. Immediately after the conclusion of the first + treaty in 1857, the Yedo authorities instructed the office for + studying foreign books _(Bunsho torishirabe-dokoro)_ to translate + excerpts from European and American journals. Occasionally these + translations were copied for circulation among officials, but the bulk + of the people knew nothing of them. Thus the first real newspaper did + not see the light until 1861, when a Yedo publisher brought out the + _Batavia News_, a compilation of items from foreign newspapers, + printed on Japanese paper from wooden blocks. Entirely devoid of local + interest, this journal did not survive for more than a few months. It + was followed, in 1864, by the _Shimbun-shi (News)_, which was + published in Yokohama, with Kishida Ginko for editor and John Hiko for + sub-editor. The latter had been cast away, many years previously, on + the coast of the United States and had become a naturalized American + citizen. He retained a knowledge of spoken Japanese, but the + ideographic script was a sealed book to him, and his editorial part + was limited to oral translations from American journals which the + editor committed to writing. The _Shimbun-shi_ essayed to collect + domestic news as well as foreign. It was published twice a month and + might possibly have created a demand for its wares had not the editor + and sub-editor left for America after the issue of the 10th number. + The example, however, had now been set. During the three years that + separated the death of the _Shimbun-shi_ from the birth of the Meiji + era (October 1867) no less than ten quasi-journals made their + appearance. They were in fact nothing better than inferior magazines, + printed from wood-blocks, issued weekly or monthly, and giving little + evidence of enterprise or intellect, though connected with them were + the names of men destined to become famous in the world of literature, + as Fukuchi Genichiro, Tsuji Shinji (afterwards Baron Tsuji) and Suzuki + Yuichi. These publications attracted little interest and exercised no + influence. Journalism was regarded as a mere pastime. The first + evidence of its potentialities was furnished by the _Koko Shimbun (The + World)_ under the editorship of Fukuchi Genichiro and Sasano Dempei. + To many Japanese observers it seemed that the restoration of 1867 had + merely transferred the administrative authority from the Tokugawa + Shogun to the clans of Satsuma and Choshu. The _Koko Shimbun_ severely + attacked the two clans as specious usurpers. It was not in the mood of + Japanese officialdom at that time to brook such assaults. The _Koko + Shimbun_ was suppressed; Fukuchi was thrust into prison, and all + journals or periodicals except those having official sanction were + vetoed. At the beginning of 1868 only two newspapers remained in the + field. Very soon, however, the enlightened makers of modern Japan + appreciated the importance of journalism, and in 1871 the _Shimbun + Zasshi (News Periodical)_ was started under the auspices of the + illustrious Kido. Shortly afterwards there appeared in + Yokohama--whence it was subsequently transferred to Tokyo--the + _Mainichi Shimbun (Daily News)_, the first veritable daily and also + the first journal printed with movable types and foreign presses. Its + editors were Numa Morikage, Shimada Saburo and Koizuka Ryu, all + destined to become celebrated not only in the field of journalism but + also in that of politics. It has often been said of the Japanese that + they are slow in forming a decision but very quick to act upon it. + This was illustrated in the case of journalism. In 1870 the country + possessed only two quasi-journals, both under official auspices. In + 1875 it possessed over 100 periodicals and daily newspapers. The most + conspicuous were the _Nichi Nichi Shimbun (Daily News)_, the _Yubin + Hochi (Postal Intelligence)_, the _Choya Shimbun (Government and + People News)_, the _Akebono Shimbun (The Dawn)_, and the _Mainichi + Shimbun (Daily News)_. These were called "the five great journals." + The _Nichi Nichi Shimbun_ had an editor of conspicuous literary + ability in Fukuchi Genichiro, and the _Hochi Shimbun_, its chief + rival, received assistance from such men as Yano Fumio, Fujita + Makichi, Inukai Ki and Minoura Katsundo. Japan had not yet any + political parties, but the ferment that preceded their birth was + abroad. The newspaper press being almost entirely in the hands of men + whose interests suggested wider opening of the door to official + preferment, nearly all editorial pens were directed against the + government. So strenuous did this campaign become that, in 1875, a + press law was enacted empowering the minister of home affairs and the + police to suspend or suppress a journal and to fine or imprison its + editor without public trial. Many suffered under this law, but the + ultimate effect was to invest the press with new popularity, and very + soon the newspapers conceived a device which effectually protected + their literary staff, for they employed "dummy editors" whose sole + function was to go to prison in lieu of the true editor. + + Japanese journalistic writing in these early years of Meiji was marred + by extreme and pedantic classicism. There had not yet been any real + escape from the tradition which assigned the crown of scholarship to + whatever author drew most largely upon the resources of the Chinese + language and learning. The example set by the Imperial court, and + still set by it, did not tend to correct this style. The sovereign, + whether speaking by rescript or by ordinance, never addressed the bulk + of his subjects. His words were taken from sources so classical as to + be intelligible to only the highly educated minority. The newspapers + sacrificed their audience to their erudition and preferred classicism + to circulation. Their columns were thus a sealed book to the whole of + the lower middle classes and to the entire female population. The + _Yomiuri Shimbun (Buy and Read News)_ was the first to break away from + this pernicious fashion. Established in 1875, it adopted a style + midway between the classical and the colloquial, and it appended the + syllabic characters to each ideograph, so that its columns became + intelligible to every reader of ordinary education. It was followed by + the _Yeiri Shimbun (Pictorial Newspaper)_, the first to insert + illustrations and to publish _feuilleton_ romances. Both of these + journals devoted space to social news, a radical departure from the + austere restrictions observed by their aristocratic contemporaries. + + + Era of Political Parties. + + The year 1881 saw the nation divided into political parties and within + measured distance of constitutional government. Thenceforth the great + majority of the newspapers and periodicals ranged themselves under the + flag of this or that party. An era of embittered polemics ensued. The + journals, while fighting continuously against each other's principles, + agreed in attacking the ministry, and the latter found it necessary to + establish organs of its own which preached the German system of state + autocracy. Editors seemed to be incapable of rising above the dead + level of political strife, and their utterances were not relieved even + by a semblance of fairness. Readers turned away in disgust, and + journal after journal passed out of existence. The situation was saved + by a newspaper which from the outset of its career obeyed the best + canons of journalism. Born in 1882, the _Jiji Shimpo (Times)_ enjoyed + the immense advantage of having its policy controlled by one of the + greatest thinkers of modern Japan, Fukuzawa Yukichi. Its basic + principle was liberty of the individual, liberty of the family and + liberty of the nation; it was always found on the side of broad-minded + justice, and it derived its materials from economic, social and + scientific sources. Other newspapers of greatly improved character + followed the _Jiji Shimpo_, especially notable among them being the + _Kokumin Shimbun_. + + + Commercial Journalism. + + In the meanwhile Osaka, always pioneer in matters of commercial + enterprise, had set the example of applying the force of capital to + journalistic development. Tokyo journals were all on a literary or + political basis, but the _Osaka Asahi Shimbun (Osaka Rising Sun News)_ + was purely a business undertaking. Its proprietor, Maruyama Ryuhei, + spared no expense to obtain news from all quarters of the world, and + for the first time the Japanese public learned what stores of + information may be found in the columns of a really enterprising + journal. Very soon the Asahi had a keen competitor in the _Osaka + Mainichi Shimbun_ (_Osaka Daily News_) and these papers ultimately + crushed all rivals in Osaka. In 1888 Maruyama established another + _Asahi_ in Tokyo, and thither he was quickly followed by his Osaka + rival, which in Tokyo took the name of _Mainichi Dempo_ (_Daily + Telegraph_). These two newspapers now stand alone as purveyors of + copious telegraphic news, and in the next rank, not greatly lower, + comes the _Jiji Shimpo_. + + With the opening of the diet in 1890, politics again obtruded + themselves into newspaper columns, but as practical living issues now + occupied attention, readers were no longer wearied by the abstract + homilies of former days. Moreover, freedom of the press was at length + secured. Already (1887) the government had voluntarily made a great + step in advance by divesting itself of the right to imprison or fine + editors by executive order. But it reserved the power of suppressing + or suspending a newspaper, and against that reservation a majority of + the lower house voted, session after session, only to see the bill + rejected by the peers, who shared the government's opinion that to + grant a larger measure of liberty would certainly encourage licence. + Not until 1897 was this opposition fully overcome. A new law, passed + by both houses and confirmed by the emperor, took from the executive + all power over journals, except in cases of lèse majesté, and nothing + now remains of the former arbitrary system except that any periodical + having a political complexion is required to deposit security varying + from 175 to 1000 yen. The result has falsified all sinister + forebodings. A much more moderate tone pervades the writings of the + press since restrictions were entirely removed, and although there are + now 1775 journals and periodicals published throughout the empire, + with a total annual circulation of some 700 million copies, + intemperance of language, such as in former times would have provoked + official interference, is practically unknown to-day. Moreover, the + best Japanese editors have caught with remarkable aptitude the spirit + of modern journalism. But a few years ago they used to compile + laborious essays, in which the inspiration was drawn from Occidental + textbooks, and the alien character of the source was hidden under a + veneer of Chinese aphorisms. To-day they write terse, succinct, + closely-reasoned articles, seldom diffuse, often witty; and generally + free from extravagance of thought or diction. Incidentally they are + hastening the assimilation of the written and the spoken languages + (_genbun itchi_) which may possibly prelude a still greater reform, + abolition of the ideographic script. Yet, with few exceptions, the + profession of journalism is not remunerative. Very low rates of + subscription, and almost prohibitory charges for advertising, are + chiefly to blame.[1] The vicissitudes of the enterprise may be + gathered from the fact that, whereas 2767 journals and periodicals + were started between 1889 and 1894 (inclusive), no less than 2465 + ceased publishing. The largest circulation recorded in 1908 was about + 150,000 copies daily, and the honour of attaining that exceptional + figure belonged to the _Osaka Asahi Shimbun_. (F. By.) + + +IV.--JAPANESE ART + + Pictorial Art. + +_Painting and Engraving._--In Japanese art the impressionist element is +predominant. Pictures, as the term is understood in Europe, can scarcely +be said to have existed at any time in Japan. The artist did not depict +emotion: he depicted the subjects that produce emotion. Therefore he +took his motives from nature rather than from history; or, if he +borrowed from the latter, what he selected was a scene, not the pains or +the passions of its actors. Moreover, he never exhausted his subject, +but was always careful to leave a wide margin for the imagination of the +spectator. This latter consideration sometimes impelled him to represent +things which, to European eyes, seem trivial or insignificant, but which +really convey hints of deep significance. In short, Japanese pictures +are like Japanese poetry: they do not supply thought but only awaken it. +Often their methods show conventionalism, but it is conventionalism so +perfect and free in its allurements that nature seems to suggest both +the motive and the treatment. Thus though neither botanically nor +ornithologically correct, their flowers and their birds show a truth to +nature, and a habit of minute observation in the artist, which cannot be +too much admired. Every blade of grass, each leaf and feather, has been +the object of loving and patient study. + +It has been rashly assumed by some writers that the Japanese do not +study from nature. All their work is an emphatic protest against this +supposition. It can in fact be shown conclusively that the Japanese have +derived all their fundamental ideas of symmetry, so different from +ours, from a close study of nature and her processes in the attainment +of endless variety. A special feature of their art is that, while often +closely and minutely imitating natural objects, such as birds, flowers +and fishes, the especial objects of their predilection and study, they +frequently combine the facts of external nature with a conventional mode +of treatment better suited to their purpose. During the long +apprenticeship that educated Japanese serve to acquire the power of +writing with the brush the complicated characters borrowed from Chinese, +they unconsciously cultivate the habit of minute observation and the +power of accurate imitation, and with these the delicacy of touch and +freedom of hand which only long practice can give. A hair's-breadth +deviation in a line is fatal to good calligraphy, both among the Chinese +and the Japanese. When they come to use the pencil in drawing, they +already possess accuracy of eye and free command of the brush. Whether a +Japanese art-worker sets himself to copy what he sees before him or to +give play to his fancy in combining what he has seen with some ideal in +his mind, the result shows perfect facility of execution and easy grace +in all the lines. + +The beauties of the human form never appealed to the Japanese artist. +Associating the nude solely with the performance of menial tasks, he +deemed it worse than a solecism to transfer such subjects to his canvas, +and thus a wide field of motive was closed to him. On the other hand, +the draped figure received admirable treatment from his brush, and the +naturalistic school of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries reached a high +level of skill in depicting men, women and children in motion. Nor has +there ever been a Japanese Landseer. Sosen's monkeys and badgers +constitute the one possible exception, but the horses, oxen, deer, +tigers, dogs, bears, foxes and even cats of the best Japanese artists +were ill drawn and badly modelled. In the field of landscape the +Japanese painter fully reached the eminence on which his great Chinese +masters stood. He did not obey the laws of linear perspective as they +are formulated in the Occident, nor did he show cast shadows, but his +aerial perspective and his foreshortening left nothing to be desired. It +has been suggested that he deliberately eschewed chiaroscuro because his +pictures, destined invariably to hang in an alcove, were required to be +equally effective from every aspect and had also to form part of a +decorative scheme. But the more credible explanation is that he merely +followed Chinese example in this matter, as he did also in linear +perspective, accepting without question the curious canon that lines +converge as they approach the spectator. + + + Decorative Art. + +It is in the realm of decorative art that the world has chiefly +benefited by contact with Japan. Her influence is second only to that of +Greece. Most Japanese decorative designs consist of natural objects, +treated sometimes in a more or less conventional manner, but always +distinguished by delicacy of touch, graceful freedom of conception and +delightfully harmonized tints. Perhaps the admiration which the Japanese +artist has won in this field is due not more to his wealth of fancy and +skilful adaptation of natural forms, than to his individuality of +character in treating his subjects. There is complete absence of +uniformity and monotony. Repetition without any variation is abhorrent +to every Japanese. He will not tolerate the stagnation and tedium of a +dull uniformity by mechanical reproduction. His temperament will not let +him endure the labour of always producing the same pattern. Hence the +repetition of two articles exactly like each other, and, generally, the +division of any space into equal parts are instinctively avoided, as +nature avoids the production of any two plants, or even any two leaves +of the same tree, which in all points shall be exactly alike. + +[Illustration: PLATE I. PAINTING + + (_These illustrations are reproduced by permission of the Kokka + Company, Tokyo, Japan._) + + FIG. 1.--MANJUSRI, DEITY OF WISDOM. Kosé School (13th century). + + FIG. 2.--WATERFALL OF NACHI. Attributed to Kanaoka (9th century). + + FIG. 3.--PORTRAIT OF THE PRIEST DAITO-KOKUSHI. Tosa School (14th + century).] + +[Illustration: PLATE II. PAINTING + + FIG. 4.--PRIESTS CARICATURED BY ANIMALS. By Toba Sojo (1053-1140). + + FIG. 5.--ESCAPE OF THE EMPEROR DISGUISED AS A WOMAN. Scene from the + Civil War. By Keion (13th century).] + +The application of this principle in the same free spirit is the secret +of much of the originality and the excellence of the decorative art of +Japan. Her artists and artisans alike aim at symmetry, not by an equal +division of parts, as we do, but rather by a certain balance of +corresponding parts, each different from the other, and not numerically +even, with an effect of variety and freedom from formality. They seek +it, in fact, as nature attains the same end. If we take for instance the +skins of animals that are striped or spotted, we have the best +possible illustration of nature's methods in this direction. Examining +the tiger or the leopard, in all the beauty of their symmetrical +adornment, we do not see in any one example an exact repetition of the +same stripes or spots on each side of the mesial line. They seem to be +alike, and yet are all different. The line of division along the spine, +it will be observed, is not perfectly continuous or defined, but in part +suggested; and each radiating stripe on either side is full of variety +in size, direction, and to some extent in colour and depth of shade. +Thus nature works, and so, following in her footsteps, works the +Japanese artist. The same law prevailing in all nature's creation, in +the plumage of birds, the painting of butterflies' wings, the marking of +shells, and in all the infinite variety and beauty of the floral +kingdom, the lesson is constantly renewed to the observant eye. Among +flowers the orchids, with all their fantastic extravagance and mimic +imitations of birds and insects, are especially prolific in examples of +symmetrical effects without any repetition of similar parts or divisions +into even numbers. + +The orchids may be taken as offering fair types of the Japanese artist's +ideal in all art work. And thus, close student of nature's processes, +methods, and effects as the Japanese art workman is, he ever seeks to +produce humble replicas from his only art master. Thus he proceeds in +all his decorative work, avoiding studiously the exact repetition of any +lines and spaces, and all diametrical divisions, or, if these be forced +upon him by the shape of the object, exercising the utmost ingenuity to +disguise the fact, and train away the eye from observing the weak point, +as nature does in like circumstances. Thus if a lacquer box in the form +of a parallelogram is the object, Japanese artists will not divide it in +two equal parts by a perpendicular line, but by a diagonal, as offering +a more pleasing line and division. If the box be round, they will seek +to lead the eye away from the naked regularity of the circle by a +pattern distracting attention, as, for example, by a zigzag breaking the +circular outline, and supported by other ornaments. A similar feeling is +shown by them as colourists, and, though sometimes eccentric and daring +in their contrasts, they never produce discords in their chromatic +scale. They have undoubtedly a fine sense of colour, and a similarly +delicate and subtle feeling for harmonious blending of brilliant and +sober hues. As a rule they prefer a quiet and refined style, using full +but low-toned colours. They know the value of bright colours, however, +and how best to utilize them, both supporting and contrasting them with +their secondaries and complementaries. + + + Division into Periods. + +The development of Japanese painting may be divided into the following +six periods, each signalized by a wave of progress. (1) From the middle +of the 6th to the middle of the 9th century: the naturalization of +Chinese and Chino-Buddhist art. (2) From the middle of the 9th to the +middle of the 15th century: the establishment of great native schools +under Kosé no Kanaoka and his descendants and followers, the pure +Chinese school gradually falling into neglect. (3) From the middle of +the 15th to the latter part of the 17th century: the revival of the +Chinese style. (4) From the latter part of the 17th to the latter part +of the 18th century: the establishment of a popular school. (5) From the +latter part of the 18th to the latter part of the 19th century: the +foundation of a naturalistic school, and the first introduction of +European influence into Japanese painting; the acme and decline of the +popular school. (6) From about 1875 to the present time: a period of +transition. + + + First Period. + +Tradition refers to the advent of a Chinese artist named Nanriu, invited +to Japan in the 5th century as a painter of the Imperial banners, but of +the labours and influence of this man and of his descendants we have no +record. The real beginnings of the study of painting and sculpture in +their higher branches must be dated from the introduction of Buddhism +from China in the middle of the 6th century, and for three centuries +after this event there is evidence that the practice of the arts was +carried on mainly by or under the instruction of Korean and Chinese +immigrants. + + The paintings of which we have any mention were almost limited to + representations of Buddhist masters of the Tang dynasty (618-905), + notably Wu Tao-zu (8th century), of whose genius romantic stories are + related. The oldest existing work of this period is a mural decoration + in the hall of the temple of Horyu-ji, Nara, attributed to a Korean + priest named Donchô, who lived in Japan in the 6th century; and this + painting, in spite of the destructive effects of time and exposure, + shows traces of the same power of line, colour and composition that + stamps the best of the later examples of Buddhist art. + + + Second Period. + +The native artist who crested the first great wave of Japanese painting +was a court noble named Kosé no Kanaoka, living under the patronage of +the emperor Seiwa (850-859) and his successors down to about the end of +the 9th century, in the midst of a period of peace and culture. Of his +own work few, if any, examples have reached us; and those attributed +with more or less probability to his hand are all representations of +Buddhist divinities, showing a somewhat formal and conventional design, +with a masterly calligraphic touch and perfect harmony of colouring. +Tradition credits him with an especial genius for the delineation of +animals and landscape, and commemorates his skill by a curious anecdote +of a painted horse which left its frame to ravage the fields, and was +reduced to pictorial stability only by the sacrifice of its eyes. He +left a line of descendants extending far into the 15th century, all +famous for Buddhist pictures, and some engaged in establishing a native +style, the _Wa-gwa-ryu_. + +At the end of the 9th century there were two exotic styles of painting, +Chinese and Buddhist, and the beginning of a native style founded upon +these. All three were practised by the same artists, and it was not +until a later period that each became the badge of a school. + + + Chinese Style. + + The Chinese style (_Kara-ryu_), the fundamental essence of all + Japanese art, has a fairly distinct history, dating back to the + introduction of Buddhism into China (A.D. 62), and it is said to have + been chiefly from the works of Wu Tao-zu, the master of the 8th + century, that Kanaoka drew his inspiration. This early Chinese manner, + which lasted in the parent country down to the end of the 13th + century, was characterized by a virile grace of line, a grave dignity + of composition, striking simplicity of technique, and a strong but + incomplete naturalistic ideal. The colouring, harmonious but subdued + in tone, held a place altogether secondary to that of the outline, and + was frequently omitted altogether, even in the most famous works. + Shadows and reflections were ignored, and perspective, approximately + correct for landscape distances, was isometrical for near objects, + while the introduction of a symbolic sun or moon lent the sole + distinction between a day and a night scene. The art was one of + imperfect evolution, but for thirteen centuries it was the only living + pictorial art in the world, and the Chinese deserve the honour of + having created landscape painting. The materials used were + water-colours, brushes, usually of deer-hair, and a surface of unsized + paper, translucid silk or wooden panel. The chief motives were + landscapes of a peculiarly wild and romantic type, animal life, trees + and flowers, and figure compositions drawn from Chinese and Buddhist + history and Taoist legend; and these, together with the grand aims and + strange shortcomings of its principles and the limited range of its + methods, were adopted almost without change by Japan. It was a noble + art, but unfortunately the rivalry of the Buddhist and later native + styles permitted it to fall into comparative neglect, and it was left + for a few of the faithful, the most famous of whom was a priest of the + 14th century named Kawo, to preserve it from inanition till the great + Chinese renaissance that lent its stamp to the next period. The + reputed founder of Japanese caricature may also be added to the list. + He was a priest named Kakuyu, but better known as the abbot of Toba, + who lived in the 12th century. An accomplished artist in the Chinese + manner, he amused himself and his friends by burlesque sketches, + marked by a grace and humour that his imitators never equalled. Later, + the motive of the Toba pictures, as such caricatures were called, + tended to degenerate, and the elegant figures of Kakuyu were replaced + by scrawls that often substituted indecency and ugliness for art and + wit. Some of the old masters of the Yamato school were, however, + admirable in their rendering of the burlesque, and in modern times + Kyosai, the last of the Hokusai school, outdid all his predecessors in + the riotous originality of his weird and comic fancies. A new phase of + the art now lives in the pages of the newspaper press. + + + Buddhist Style. + + The Buddhist style was probably even more ancient than the Chinese, + for the scheme of colouring distinctive of the Buddhist picture was + almost certainly of Indian origin; brilliant and decorative, and + heightened by a lavish use of gold, it was essential to the effect of + a picture destined for the dim light of the Buddhist temple. The style + was applied only to the representations of sacred personages and + scenes, and as the traditional forms and attributes of the Brahmanic + and Buddhist divinities were mutable only within narrow limits, the + subjects seldom afforded scope for originality of design or + observation of nature. The principal Buddhist painters down to the + 14th century were members of the Kosé, Takuma and Kasuga lines, the + first descended from Kanaoka, the second from Takuma Taméuji (ending + 10th century), and the third from Fujiwara no Motomitsu (11th + century). The last and greatest master of the school was a priest + named Meicho, better known as Cho Densu, the Japanese Fra Angelico. It + is to him that Japan owes the possession of some of the most stately + and most original works in her art, sublime in conception, line and + colour, and deeply instinct with the religious spirit. He died in + 1427, at the age of seventy-six, in the seclusion of the temple where + he had passed the whole of his days. + + + Native Style. + + The native style, _Yamato_ or _Wa-gwa-ryu_, was an adaptation of + Chinese art canons to motives drawn from the court life, poetry and + stories of old Japan. It was undoubtedly practised by the Kose line, + and perhaps by their predecessors, but it did not take shape as a + school until the beginning of the 11th century under Fujiwara no + Motomitsu, who was a pupil of Kose no Kinmochi; it then became known + as _Yamato-ryu_, a title which two centuries later was changed to that + of _Tosa_, on the occasion of one of its masters, Fujiwara no + Tsunetaka, assuming that appellation as a family name. The Yamato-Tosa + artists painted in all styles, but that which was the speciality of + the school, to be found in nearly all the historical rolls bequeathed + to us by their leaders, was a lightly-touched outline filled in with + flat and bright body-colours, in which verdigris-green played a great + part. The originality of the motive did not prevent the adoption of + all the Chinese conventions, and of some new ones of the artist's own. + The curious expedient of spiriting away the roof of any building of + which the artist wished to show the interior was one of the most + remarkable of these. Amongst the foremost names of the school are + those of Montomitsu (11th century), Nobuzane (13th century), Tsunetaka + (13th century), Mitsunobu (15th and 16th centuries), his son + Mitsushige, and Mitsuoki (17th century). The struggle between the + Taira and Minamoto clans for the power that had long been practically + abandoned by the Imperial line lasted through the 11th and the greater + part of the 12th centuries, ending only with the rise of Yoritomo to + the shogunate in 1185. These internecine disturbances had been + unfavourable to any new departure in art, except in matters + appertaining to arms and armour, and the strife between two puppet + emperors for a shadow of authority in the 14th century brought another + distracting element. It was not until the triumph of the northern + dynasty was achieved through the prowess of an interested champion of + the Ashikaga clan that the culture of ancient Japan revived. The + palace of the Ashikaga shoguns then replaced the Imperial court as the + centre of patronage of art and literature and established a new era in + art history. + + + Third Period. + +Towards the close of the Ashikaga shogunate painting entered on a new +phase. Talented representatives of the Kose, Takuma and Tosa lines +maintained the reputation of the native and Buddhist schools, and the +long-neglected Chinese school was destined to undergo a vigorous +revival. The initiation of the new movement is attributed to a priest +named Jôsetsu, who lived in the early part of the 15th century, and of +whom little else is known. It is not even certain whether he was of +Chinese or Japanese birth; he is, however, believed by some authorities +to have been the teacher of three great artists--Shubun, Sesshu and Kano +Masanobu--who became the leaders of three schools: Shubun, that of the +pure Chinese art of the Sung and Yuan dynasties (10th and 13th +centuries); Sesshu, that of a modified school bearing his name; and +Masanobu, of the great Kano school, which has reached to the present +day. The qualities of the new Chinese schools were essentially those of +the older dynasties: breadth, simplicity, a daringly calligraphic play +of brush that strongly recalled the accomplishments of the famous +scribes, and a colouring that varied between sparing washes of flat +local tints and a strength and brilliancy of decorative effort that +rivalled even that of the Buddhist pictures. The motives remained almost +identical with those of the Chinese masters, and so imbued with the +foreign spirit were many of the Japanese disciples that it is said they +found it difficult to avoid introducing Chinese accessories even into +pictures of native scenery. + + Sesshu (1421-1507) was a priest who visited China and studied painting + there for several years, at length returning in 1469, disappointed + with the living Chinese artists, and resolved to strike out a style of + his own, based upon that of the old masters. He was the boldest and + most original of Japanese landscape artists, leaving powerful and + poetic records of the scenery of his own land as well as that of + China, and trusting more to the sure and sweeping stroke of the brush + than to colour. Shubun was an artist of little less power, but he + followed more closely his exemplars, the Chinese masters of the 12th + and 13th centuries; while Kano Masanobu (1424-1520), trained in the + love of Chinese art, departed little from the canons he had learned + from Josetsu or Oguri Sotan. It was left to his more famous son, + Motonobu, to establish the school which bears the family name. Kano + Motonobu (1477-1559) was one of the greatest Japanese painters, an + eclectic of genius, who excelled in every style and every branch of + his art. His variety was inexhaustible, and he remains to this day a + model whom the most distinguished artists are proud to imitate. The + names of the celebrated members of this long line are too many to + quote here, but the most accomplished of his descendants was Tanyu, + who died in 1674, at the age of seventy-three. The close of this long + period brought a new style of art, that of the Korin school. Ogata + Korin (1653-1716) is claimed by both the Tosa and Kano schools, but + his work bears more resemblance to that of an erratic offshoot of the + Kano line named Sotatsu than to the typical work of the academies. He + was an artist of eccentric originality, who achieved wonders in bold + decorative effects in spite of a studied contempt for detail. As a + lacquer painter he left a strong mark upon the work of his + contemporaries and successors. His brother and pupil, Kenzan, adopted + his style, and left a reputation as a decorator of pottery hardly less + brilliant than Korin's in that of lacquer; and a later follower, + Hoitsu (1762-1828), greatly excelled the master in delicacy and + refinement, although inferior to him in vigour and invention. Down to + the end of this era painting was entirely in the hands of a patrician + caste--courtiers, priests, feudal nobles and their military retainers, + all men of high education and gentle birth, living in a polished + circle. It was practised more as a phase of aesthetic culture than + with any utilitarian views. It was a labour of loving service, + untouched by the spirit of material gain, conferring upon the work of + the older masters a dignity and poetic feeling which we vainly seek in + much of the later work. Unhappily, but almost inevitably, over-culture + led to a gradual falling-off from the old virility. The strength of + Meicho, Sesshu, Motonobu and Tanyu gave place to a more or less + slavish imitation of the old Japanese painters and their Chinese + exemplars, till the heirs to the splendid traditions of the great + masters preserved little more than their conventions and shortcomings. + It was time for a new departure, but there seemed to be no sufficient + strength left within the charmed circle of the orthodox schools, and + the new movement was fated to come from the masses, whose voice had + hitherto been silent in the art world. + + + Fourth Period: Popular School. + +A new era in art began in the latter half of the 17th century with the +establishment of a popular school under an embroiderer's draughtsman +named Hishigawa Moronobu (c. 1646-1713). Perhaps no great change is ever +entirely a novelty. The old painters of the Yamato-Tosa line had +frequently shown something of the daily life around them, and one of the +later scions of the school, named Iwasa Matahei, had even made a +specialty of this class of motive; but so little is known of Matahei and +his work that even his period is a matter of dispute, and the few +pictures attributed to his pencil are open to question on grounds of +authenticity. He probably worked some two generations before the time of +Moronobu, but there is no reason to believe that his labours had any +material share in determining the creation and trend of the new school. + + Moronobu was a consummate artist, with all the delicacy and + calligraphic force of the best of the Tosa masters, whom he + undoubtedly strove to emulate in style; and his pictures are not only + the most beautiful but also the most trustworthy records of the life + of his time. It was not to his paintings, however, that he owed his + greatest influence, but to the powerful impulse he gave to the + illustration of books and broadsides by wood-engravings. It is true + that illustrated books were known as early as 1608, if not before, but + they were few and unattractive, and did little to inaugurate the great + stream of _ehon_, or picture books, that were to take so large a share + in the education of his own class. It is to Moronobu that Japan owes + the popularization of artistic wood-engravings, for nothing before his + series of xylographic albums approached his best work in strength and + beauty, and nothing since has surpassed it. Later there came abundant + aid to the cause of popular art, partly from pupils of the Kano and + Tosa schools, but mainly from the artisan class. Most of these artists + were designers for books and broadsides by calling, painters only on + occasion, but a few of them did nothing for the engravers. Throughout + the whole of this period, embracing about a hundred years, there still + continued to work, altogether apart from the men who were making the + success of popular art, a large number of able painters of the Kano, + Tosa and Chinese schools, who multiplied pictures that had every merit + except that of originality. These men, living in the past, paid little + attention to the great popular movement, which seemed to be quite + outside their social and artistic sphere and scarcely worthy of + cultured criticism. It was in the middle of the 18th century that the + decorative, but relatively feeble, Chinese art of the later Ming + period found favour in Japan and a clever exponent in a painter named + Ryurikyo. It must be regarded as a sad decadence from the old Chinese + ideals, which was further hastened, from about 1765, by the popularity + of the southern Chinese style. This was a weak affectation that found + its chief votaries amongst literary men ambitious of an easily earned + artistic reputation. The principal Japanese supporter of this school + was Taigado (1722-1775), but the volume of copies of his sketches, + _Taigado sansui juseki_, published about 1870, is one of the least + attractive albums ever printed in Japan. + + + Fifth Period: Naturalistic School. + +The fifth period was introduced by a movement as momentous as that which +stamped its predecessor--the foundation of a naturalistic school under a +group of men outside the orthodox academical circles. The naturalistic +principle was by no means a new one; some of the old Chinese masters +were naturalistic in a broad and noble manner, and their Japanese +followers could be admirably and minutely accurate when they pleased; +but too many of the latter were content to construct their pictures out +of fragmentary reminiscences of ancient Chinese masterpieces, not +presuming to see a rock, a tree, an ox, or a human figure, except +through Chinese spectacles. It was a farmer's son named Okyo, trained in +his youth to paint in the Chinese manner, who was first bold enough to +adopt as a canon what his predecessors had only admitted under rare +exceptions, the principle of an exact imitation of nature. +Unfortunately, even he had not all the courage of his creed, and while +he would paint a bird or a fish with perfect realism, he no more dared +to trust his eyes in larger motives than did the most devout follower of +Shubun or Motonobu. He was essentially a painter of the classical +schools, with the speciality of elaborate reproduction of detail in +certain sections of animal life, but fortunately this partial concession +to truth, emphasized as it was by a rare sense of beauty, did large +service. + + Okyo rose into notice about 1775, and a number of pupils flocked to + his studio in Shijo Street, Kioto (whence Shijo school). Amongst these + the most famous were Goshun (1742-1811), who is sometimes regarded as + one of the founders of the school; Sosen (1757-1821), an animal + painter of remarkable power, but especially celebrated for pictures of + monkey life; Shuho, the younger brother of the last, also an animal + painter; Rosetsu (1755-1799), the best landscape painter of his + school; Keibun, a younger brother of Goshun, and some later followers + of scarcely less fame, notably Hoyen, a pupil of Keibun; Tessan, an + adopted son of Sosen; Ippo and Yosai (1788-1878), well known for a + remarkable set of volumes, the _Zenken kojitsu_, containing a long + series of portraits of ancient Japanese celebrities. Ozui and Ojyu, + the sons of Okyo, painted in the style of their father, but failed to + attain great eminence. Lastly, amongst the associates of the Shijo + master was the celebrated Ganku (1798-1837), who developed a special + style of his own, and is sometimes regarded as the founder of a + distinct school. He was, however, greatly influenced by Okyo's + example, and his sons, Gantai, Ganryo, and Gantoku or Renzan, drifted + into a manner almost indistinguishable from that of the Shijo school. + + + European School. + +It remains only to allude to the European school, if school it can be +called, founded by Kokan and Denkichi, two contemporaries of Okyo. These +artists, at first educated in one of the native schools, obtained from a +Hollander in Nagasaki some training in the methods and principles of +European painting, and left a few oil paintings in which the laws of +light and shade and perspective were correctly observed. They were not, +however, of sufficient capacity to render the adopted manner more than a +subject of curiosity, except to a few followers who have reached down to +the present generation. It is possible that the essays in perspective +found in the pictures of Hokusai, Hiroshige, and some of the popular +artists of the 19th century, were suggested by Kokan's drawings and +writings. + + + Sixth Period. + +The sixth period began about 1875, when an Italian artist was engaged by +the government as a professor of painting in the Engineering College at +Tokyo. Since that time some distinguished European artists have visited +Japan, and several Japanese students have made a pilgrimage to Europe to +see for themselves what lessons may be gained from Western art. These +students, confronted by a strong reaction in favour of pure Japanese +art, have fought manfully to win public sympathy, and though their +success is not yet crowned, it is not impossible that an Occidental +school may ultimately be established. Thus far the great obstacle has +been that pictures painted in accordance with Western canons are not +suited to Japanese interiors and do not appeal to the taste of the most +renowned Japanese connoisseurs. Somewhat more successful has been an +attempt--inaugurated by Hashimoto Gaho and Kawabata Gyokusho--to combine +the art of the West with that of Japan by adding to the latter the +chiaroscuro and the linear perspective of the former. If the disciples +of this school could shake off the Sesshu tradition of strong outlines +and adopt the Kano Motonobu revelation of modelling by mass only, their +work would stand on a high place. But they, too, receive little +encouragement. The tendency of the time is conservative in art matters. + + A series of magnificent publications has popularized art and its best + products in a manner such as could never have been anticipated. The + _Kokka_, a monthly magazine richly and beautifully illustrated and + edited by Japanese students, has reached its 223rd number; the _Shimbi + Daikan_, a colossal album containing chromoxylographic facsimiles of + celebrated examples in every branch of art, has been completed in 20 + volumes; the masterpieces of Korin and Motonobu have been reproduced + in similar albums; the masterpieces of the _Ukiyo-e_ are in process of + publication, and it seems certain that the Japanese nation will + ultimately be educated to such a knowledge of its own art as will make + for permanent appreciation. Meanwhile the intrepid group of painters + in oil plod along unflinchingly, having formed themselves into an + association (the _hakuba-kai_) which gives periodical exhibitions, and + there are, in Tokyo and Kioto, well-organized and flourishing art + schools which receive a substantial measure of state aid, as well as a + private academy founded by Okakura with a band of seceders from the + hybrid fashions of the Gaho system. Altogether the nation seems to be + growing more and more convinced that its art future should not wander + far from the lines of the past. (W. An.; F. By.) + + + Engraving. + +Although a little engraving on copper has been practised in Japan of +late years, it is of no artistic value, and the only branch of the art +which calls for recognition is the cutting of wood-blocks for use either +with colours or without. This, however, is of supreme importance, and as +its technique differs in most respects from the European practice, it +demands a somewhat detailed description. + + The wood used is generally that of the cherry-tree, _sakura_, which + has a grain of peculiar evenness and hardness. It is worked plankwise + to a surface parallel with the grain, and not across it. A design is + drawn by the artist, to whom the whole credit of the production + generally belongs, with a brush on thin paper, which is then pasted + face downwards on the block. The engraver, who is very rarely the + designer, then cuts the outlines into the block with a knife, + afterwards removing the superfluous wood with gouges and chisels. + Great skill is shown in this operation, which achieves perhaps the + finest facsimile reproduction of drawings ever known without the aid + of photographic processes. A peculiar but highly artistic device is + that of gradually rounding off the surfaces where necessary, in order + to obtain in printing a soft and graduated mass of colour which does + not terminate too abruptly. In printing with colours a separate block + is made in this manner for each tint, the first containing as a rule + the mere lines of the composition, and the others providing for the + masses of tint to be applied. In all printing the paper is laid on the + upper surface of the block, and the impression rubbed off with a + circular pad, composed of twisted cord within a covering of paper + cloth and bamboo-leaf, and called the _baren_. In colour-printing, the + colours, which are much the same as those in use in Europe, are mixed, + with rice-paste as a medium, on the block for each operation, and the + power of regulating the result given by this custom to an intelligent + craftsman (who, again, is neither the artist nor the engraver) was + productive in the best period of very beautiful and artistic effects, + such as could never have been obtained by any mechanical device. A + wonderfully accurate register, or successive superposition of each + block, is got mainly by the skill of the printer, who is assisted only + by a mark defining one corner and another mark showing the opposite + side limit. + +The origins of this method of colour-printing are obscure. It has been +practised to some extent in China and Korea, but there is no evidence of +its antiquity in these countries. It appears to be one of the few +indigenous arts of Japan. But before accepting this conclusion as final, +one must not lose sight of the fact that the so-called chiaroscuro +engraving was at the height of its use in Italy at the same time that +embassies from the Christians in Japan visited Rome, and that it is thus +possible that the suggestion at least may have been derived from +Europe. The fact that no traces of it have been discovered in Japan +would be easily accounted for, when it is remembered that the examples +taken home would almost certainly have been religious pictures, would +have been preserved in well-known and accessible places, and would thus +have been entirely destroyed in the terrible and minute extermination of +Christianity by Hideyoshi at the beginning of the 17th century. Japanese +tradition ascribes the invention of colour-printing to Idzumiya +Gonshiro, who, about the end of the 17th century, first made use of a +second block to apply a tint of red (_beni_) to his prints. Sir Ernest +Satow states more definitely that "Sakakibara attributes its origin to +the year 1695, when portraits of the actor Ichikawa Danjiuro, coloured +by this process, were sold in the streets of Yedo for five cash apiece." +The credit of the invention is also given to Torii Kiyonobu, who worked +at about this time, and, indeed, is said to have made the prints above +mentioned. But authentic examples of his work now remaining, printed in +three colours, seem to show a technique too complete for an origin quite +so recent. However, he is the first artist of importance to have +produced the broadsheets--for many years chiefly portraits of notable +actors, historical characters and famous courtesans--which are the +leading and characteristic use to which the art was applied. Pupils, the +chief of whom were Kiyomasa, Kiyotsume, Kiyomitsu, Kiyonaga and +Kiyomine, carried on his tradition until the end of the 18th century, +the three earlier using but few colours, while the works of the two last +named show a technical mastery of all the capabilities of the process. + + The next artist of importance is Suzuki Harunobu (worked c. + 1760-1780), to whom the Japanese sometimes ascribe the invention of + the process, probably on the grounds of an improvement in his + technique, and the fact that he seems to have been one of the first of + the colour-print makers to attain great popularity. Katsukawa Shunsho + (d. 1792) must next be mentioned, not only for the beauty of his own + work, but because he was the first master of Hokusai; then Yeishi + (worked c. 1781-1800), the founder of the Hosoda school; Utamaro + (1754-1806), whose prints of beautiful women were collected by + Dutchmen while he was still alive, and have had in our own day a vogue + greater, perhaps, than those of any other of his fellows; and Toyokuni + I. (1768-1825), who especially devoted himself to broadsheet portraits + of actors and dramatic scenes. The greatest of all the artists of the + popular school was, however, Hokusai (1760-1849). His most famous + series of broadsheets is the _Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji_ + (1823-1829), which, in spite of the conventional title, includes at + least forty-six. His work is catalogued in detail by E. de Goncourt. + At the beginning of the 19th century the process was technically at + its greatest height, and in the hands of the great landscape artist, + Hiroshige I., as well as the pupils of Toyokuni I.--Kunisada and + Kuniyoshi--and those of Hokusai, it at first kept up an excellent + level. But an undue increase in the number of blocks used, combined + with the inferiority of the imported colours and carelessness or loss + of skill in printing, brought about a rapid decline soon after 1840. + This continued until the old traditions were well-nigh exhausted, but + since 1880 there has been a distinct revival. The prints of the + present day are cut with great skill, and the designs are excellent, + though both these branches seem to lack the vigour of conception and + breadth of execution of the older masters. The colours now used are + almost invariably of cheap German origin, and though they have a + certain prettiness--ephemeral, it is to be feared--they again can not + compare with the old native productions. Among workers in this style, + Yoshitoshi (d. c. 1898) was perhaps the best. Living artists in 1908 + included Toshihide, Miyagawa Shuntei, Yoshiu Chikanobu--one of the + elder generation--Tomisuka Yeishu, Toshikata and Gekko. Formerly the + colour-print artist was of mean extraction and low social position, + but he now has some recognition at the hands of the professors of more + esteemed branches of art. This change is doubtless due in part to + Occidental appreciation of the products of his art, which were + formerly held in little honour by his own countrymen, the place + assigned to them being scarcely higher than that accorded to magazine + illustrations in Europe and America. But it is also largely due to his + displays of unsurpassed skill in preparing xylographs for the + beautiful art publications issued by the _Shimbi Shoin_ and the + _Kokka_ company. These xylographs prove that the Japanese art-artisan + of the present day was not surpassed by the greatest of his + predecessors in this line. (E. F. S.; F. By.) + + + Book Illustration. + +The history of the illustrated book in Japan may be said to begin with +the _Ise monogatari_, a romance first published in the 10th century, of +which an edition adorned with woodcuts appeared in 1608. In the course +of the 17th century many other works of the same nature were issued, +including some in which the cuts were roughly coloured by hand; but the +execution of these is not as good as contemporary European work. The +date of the first use of colour-printing in Japanese book illustration +is uncertain. In 1667 a collection of designs for _kimono_ (garments) +appeared, in which inks of several colours were made use of; but these +were only employed in turn for single printings, and in no case were two +of them used on the same print. It is certain, however, that the mere +use of coloured inks must soon have suggested the combination of two or +more of them, and it is probable that examples of this will be +discovered much earlier in date than those known at present. + + About the year 1680 Hishigawa Moronobu achieved a great popularity for + woodcut illustration, and laid the foundations of the splendid school + which followed. The names of the engravers who cut his designs are not + known, and in fact the reputation of these craftsmen is curiously + subordinated to that of the designers in all Japanese work of the + kind. With Moronobu must be associated Okumura Masanobu, a little + later perhaps in date, whose work is also of considerable value. + During the ensuing thirty years numerous illustrated books appeared, + including the earliest yet known which are illustrated by + colour-printing. Nishikawa Sukenobu (1671-1751) illustrated a very + large number of books, many of which were not published until after + his death. With him may be associated Ichio Shumboku (d. c. 1773) and + Tsukioka Tange (1717-1786), the latter of whom made the drawings for + many of the _meisho_ or guide-books which form so interesting and + distinctive a branch of Japanese illustration. The work of Tachibana + Morikuni (1670-1748) is also of great importance. The books + illustrated by the men of this school were mainly collections of + useful information, guide-books, romances and historical and religious + compilations; but much of the best of their work is to be found in the + collections of pictorial designs, very often taken from Chinese + sources, which were produced for the use of workers in lacquer, + pottery and similar crafts. These, both for design and for skill of + cutting, hold their own with the best work of European wood-cutting of + any period. The development of the art of Japanese colour-printing + naturally had its effect on book-illustration, and the later years of + the 18th and the earlier of the 19th century saw a vast increase of + books illustrated by this process. The subjects also now include a new + series of landscapes and views drawn as seen by the designers, and not + reproductions of the work of other men; and also sketches of scenes + and characters of everyday life and of the folk-lore in which Japan is + so rich. Among the artists of this period, as of all others in Japan, + Hokusai (1760-1849) is absolutely pre-eminent. His greatest production + in book-illustration was the _Mangwa_, a collection of sketches which + cover the whole ground of Japanese life and legend, art and + handicraft. It consists of fifteen volumes, which appeared at + intervals from 1812 to 1875, twelve being published during his life + and the others from material left by him. Among his many other works + may be mentioned the _Azuma Asobi_ (_Walks round Yedo_, 1799). Of his + pupils, Hokkei (1780-1856) and Kyosai were the greatest. Most of the + artists, whose main work was the designing of broadsheets, produced + elaborately illustrated books; and this series includes specimens of + printing in colours from wood-blocks, which for technique have never + been excelled. Among them should be mentioned Shunsho (_Seiro bijin + awase kagami_, 1776); Utamaro (_Seiro nenjyu gyoji_, 1804); Toyokuni + I. (_Yakusha kono teikishiwa_, 1801); as well as Harunobu Yeishi + (_Onna sanjyu rokkasen_, 1798), Kitao Masanobu and Tachibana Minko, + each of whom produced beautiful work of the same nature. In the period + next following, the chief artists were Keisai Yeisen (_Keisai so-gwa_, + 1832) and Kikuchi Yosai (_Zenken kojitsu_), the latter of whom ranks + perhaps as highly as any of the artists who confined their work to + black and white. The books produced in the period 1880-1908 in Japan + are still of high technical excellence. The colours are, + unfortunately, of cheap European manufacture; and the design, although + quite characteristic and often beautiful, is as a rule merely pretty. + The engraving is as good as ever. Among the book-illustrators of our + own generation must be again mentioned Kyosai; Kono Bairei (d. 1895), + whose books of birds--the _Bairei hyakucho gwafu_ (1881 and 1884) and + _Yuaka-no-tsuki_ (1889)--are unequalled of their kind; Imao Keinen, + who also issued a beautiful set of illustrations of birds and flowers + (_Keinen kwacho gwafu_), engraved by Tanaka Jirokichi and printed by + Miki Nisaburo (1891-1892); and Watanabe Seitei, whose studies of + similar subjects have appeared in _Seitei kwacho gwafu_ (1890-1891) + and the _Bijutsu sekai_ (1894), engraved by Goto Tokujiro. Mention + should also be made of several charming series of fairy tales, of + which that published in English by the _Kobunsha_ in Tokyo in 1885 is + perhaps the best. In their adaptation of modern processes of + illustration the Japanese are entirely abreast of Western nations, the + chromo-lithographs and other reproductions in the _Kokka_, a + periodical record of Japanese works of art (begun in 1889), in the + superb albums of the _Shimbi Shoin_, and in the publications of Ogawa + being of quite a high order of merit. (E. F. S.; F. By.) + +[Illustration: PLATE III. PAINTING + + FIG. 6.--KWANNON, GODDESS OF MERCY. By Mincho or Cho Densu + (1352-1431). + + FIG. 7.--LANDSCAPE IN SNOW. By Kano Motonobu (1476-1559). + + FIG. 8.--JUROJIN. By Sesshiu (1420-1506).] + +[Illustration: PLATE IV. PAINTING + + FIG. 9.--PLUM TREES AND STREAM--SCREEN ON GOLD GROUND. By Korin + (1661-1716). + + FIG. 10.--PEACOCKS. By Ganku (1749-1838).] + + + Historical Sketch. + +_Sculpture and Carving._--Sculpture in wood and metal is of ancient +date in Japan. Its antiquity is not, indeed, comparable to that of +ancient Egypt or Greece, but no country besides Japan can boast a living +and highly developed art that has numbered upwards of twelve centuries +of unbroken and brilliant productiveness. Setting aside rude prehistoric +essays in stone and metal, which have special interest for the +antiquary, we have examples of sculpture in wood and metal, magnificent +in conception and technique, dating from the earliest periods of what we +may term historical Japan; that is, from near the beginning of the great +Buddhist propaganda under the emperor Kimmei (540-571) and the princely +hierarch, Shotoku Taishi (573-621). Stone has never been in favour in +Japan as a material for the higher expression of the sculptor's art. + + + First Period. + +The first historical period of glyptic art in Japan reaches from the end +of the 6th to the end of the 12th century, culminating in the work of +the great Nara sculptors, Unkei and his pupil Kwaikei. Happily, there +are still preserved in the great temples of Japan, chiefly in the +ancient capital of Nara, many noble relics of this period. + + The place of honour may perhaps be conferred upon sculptures in wood, + representing the Indian Buddhists, Asangha and Vasabandhu, preserved + in the Golden Hall of Kofuku-ji, Nara. These are attributed to a + Kamakura sculptor of the 8th or 9th century, and in simple and + realistic dignity of pose and grand lines of composition are worthy of + comparison with the works of ancient Greece. With these may be named + the demon lantern-bearers, so perfect in the grotesque treatment of + the diabolical heads and the accurate anatomical forms of the sturdy + body and limbs; the colossal temple guardians of the great gate of + Todai-ji, by Unkei and Kwaikei (11th century), somewhat + conventionalized, but still bearing evidence of direct study from + nature, and inspired with intense energy of action; and the smaller + but more accurately modelled temple guardians in the Saikondo, Nara, + which almost compare with the "fighting gladiator" in their + realization of menacing strength. The "goddess of art" of + Akishino-dera, Nara, attributed to the 8th century, is the most + graceful and least conventional of female sculptures in Japan, but + infinitely remote from the feminine conception of the Greeks. The + wooden portrait of Vimalakirtti, attributed to Unkei, at Kofuku-ji, + has some of the qualities of the images of the two Indian Buddhists. + The sculptures attributed to Jocho, the founder of the Nara school, + although powerful in pose and masterly in execution, lack the truth of + observation seen in some of the earlier and later masterpieces. + + The most perfect of the ancient bronzes is the great image of + Bhaicha-djyaguru in the temple of Yakushi-ji, Nara, attributed to a + Korean monk of the 7th century, named Giogi. The bronze image of the + same divinity at Horyu-ji, said to have been cast at the beginning of + the 7th century by Tori Busshi, the grandson of a Chinese immigrant, + is of good technical quality, but much inferior in design to the + former. The colossal Nara Daibutsu (Vairocana) at Todai-ji, cast in + 749 by a workman of Korean descent, is the largest of the great + bronzes in Japan, but ranks far below the Yakushi-ji image in artistic + qualities. The present head, however, is a later substitute for the + original, which was destroyed by fire. + + The great Nara school of sculpture in wood was founded in the early + part of the 11th century by a sculptor of Imperial descent named + Jocho, who is said to have modelled his style upon that of the Chinese + wood-carvers of the Tang dynasty; his traditions were maintained by + descendants and followers down to the beginning of the 13th century. + All the artists of this period were men of aristocratic rank and + origin, and were held distinct from the carpenter-architects of the + imposing temples which were to contain their works. + + Sacred images were not the only specimens of glyptic art produced in + these six centuries; reliquaries, bells, vases, incense-burners, + candlesticks, lanterns, decorated arms and armour, and many other + objects, showing no less mastery of design and execution, have reached + us. Gold and silver had been applied to the adornment of helmets and + breastplates from the 7th century, but it was in the 12th century that + the decoration reached the high degree of elaboration shown us in the + armour of the Japanese Bayard, Yoshitsune, which is still preserved at + Kasuga, Nara. + + Wooden masks employed in the ancient theatrical performances were made + from the 7th century, and offer a distinct and often grotesque phase + of wood-carving. Several families of experts have been associated with + this class of sculpture, and their designs have been carefully + preserved and imitated down to the present day. + + + Second Period. + +The second period in Japanese glyptic art extends from the beginning of +the 13th to the early part of the 17th century. The great struggle +between the Taira and Minamoto clans had ended, but the militant spirit +was still strong, and brought work for the artists who made and +ornamented arms and armour. The Miyochins, a line that claimed ancestry +from the 7th century, were at the head of their calling, and their work +in iron breastplates and helmets, chiefly in _repoussé_, is still +unrivalled. It was not until the latter half of the 15th century that +there came into vogue the elaborate decoration of the sword, a fashion +that was to last four hundred years. + + The metal guard (_tsuba_), made of iron or precious alloy, was adorned + with engraved designs, often inlaid with gold and silver. The free end + of the hilt was crowned with a metallic cap or pommel (_kashira_), the + other extremity next the tsuba was embraced by an oval ring (_fuchi_), + and in the middle was affixed on each side a special ornament called + the _menuki_, all adapted in material and workmanship to harmonize + with the guard. The _kodzuka_, or handle of a little knife implanted + into the sheath of the short sword or dagger, was also of metal and + engraved with like care. The founder of the first great line of tsuba + and menuki artists was Goto Yujo (1440-1512), a friend of the painter + Kano Motonobu, whose designs he adopted. Many families of sword + artists sprang up at a later period, furnishing treasures for the + collector even down to the present day, and their labours reached a + level of technical mastery and refined artistic judgment almost + without parallel in the art industries of Europe. Buddhist sculpture + was by no means neglected during this period, but there are few works + that call for special notice. The most noteworthy effort was the + casting by Ono Goroyémon in 1252 of the well-known bronze image, the + Kamakura Daibutsu. + + + Third Period. + +The third period includes the 17th, 18th and the greater part of the +19th centuries. It was the era of the artisan artist. The makers of +Buddhist images and of sword ornaments carried on their work with +undiminished industry and success, and some famous schools of the latter +arose during this period. The Buddhist sculptors, however, tended to +grow more conventional and the metal-workers more naturalistic as the +18th century began to wane. It was in connexion with architecture that +the great artisan movement began. The initiator was Hidari Jingoro +(1594-1652), at first a simple carpenter, afterwards one of the most +famous sculptors in the land of great artists. The gorgeous decoration +of the mausoleum of Iyeyasu at Nikko, and of the gateway of the Nishi +Hongwan temple at Kioto, are the most striking instances of his +handiwork or direction. + + The pillars, architraves, ceilings, panels, and almost every available + part of the structure, are covered with arabesques and sculptured + figures of dragons, lions, tigers, birds, flowers, and even pictorial + compositions with landscapes and figures, deeply carved in solid or + open work--the wood sometimes plain, sometimes overlaid with pigment + and gilding, as in the panelled ceiling of the chapel of Iyeyasu in + Tokyo. The designs for these decorations, like those of the sword + ornaments, were adopted from the great schools of painting, but the + invention of the sculptor was by no means idle. From this time the + temple carvers, although still attached to the carpenters' guild, took + a place apart from the rest of their craft, and the genius of Hidari + Jingoro secured for one important section of the artisan world a + recognition like that which Hishigawa Moronobu, the painter and + book-illustrator, afterwards won for another. + +A little later arose another art industry, also emanating from the +masses. The use of tobacco, which became prevalent in the 17th century, +necessitated the pouch. In order to suspend this from the girdle there +was employed a kind of button or toggle--the _netsuke_. The metallic +bowl and mouthpiece of the pipe offered a tempting surface for +embellishment, as well as the clasp of the pouch; and the netsuke, being +made of wood, ivory or other material susceptible of carving, also gave +occasion for art and ingenuity. + + The engravers of pipes, pouch clasps, and the metallic discs + (_kagami-buta_) attached to certain netsuke, sprang from the same + class and were not less original. They worked, too, with a skill + little inferior to that of the Gotos, Naras, and other aristocratic + sculptors of sword ornaments, and often with a refinement which their + relative disadvantages in education and associations render especially + remarkable. The netsuke and the pipe, with all that pertained to it, + were for the commoners what the sword-hilt and guard were for the + gentry. Neither class cared to bestow jewels upon their persons, but + neither spared thought or expense in the embellishment of the object + they most loved. The final manifestation of popular glyptic art was + the _okimono_, an ornament pure and simple, in which utility was + altogether secondary in intention to decorative effect. Its + manufacture as a special branch of art work dates from the rise of the + naturalistic school of painting and the great expansion of the popular + school under the Katsugawa, but the okimono formed an occasional + amusement of the older glyptic artists. Some of the most exquisite and + most ingenious of these earlier productions, such as the magnificent + iron eagle in the South Kensington Museum, the wonderful articulated + models of crayfish, dragons, serpents, birds, that are found in many + European collections, came from the studios of the Miyochins; but + these were the play of giants, and were not made as articles of + commerce. The new artisan makers of the okimono struck out a line for + themselves, one influenced more by the naturalistic and popular + schools than by the classical art, and the quails of Kamejo, the + tortoises of Seimin, the dragons of Toun and Toryu, and in recent + years the falcons and the peacocks of Suzuki Chokichi, are the joy of + the European collector. The best of these are exquisite in + workmanship, graceful in design, often strikingly original in + conception, and usually naturalistic in ideal. They constitute a phase + of art in which Japan has few rivals. + +The present generation is more systematically commercial in its glyptic +produce than any previous age. Millions of commercial articles in +metal-work, wood and ivory flood the European markets, and may be bought +in any street in Europe at a small price, but they offer a variety of +design and an excellence of workmanship which place them almost beyond +Western competition. Above all this, however, the Japanese sculptor is a +force in art. He is nearly as thorough as his forefathers, and maintains +the same love of all things beautiful; and if he cannot show any +epoch-making novelty, he is at any rate doing his best to support +unsurpassed the decorative traditions of the past. + + + Sword-making Families. + +History has been eminently careful to preserve the names and records of +the men who chiselled sword furniture. The sword being regarded as the +soul of the samurai, every one who contributed to its manufacture, +whether as forger of the blade or sculptor of the furniture, was held in +high repute. The Goto family worked steadily during 14 generations, and +its 19th century representative--Goto Ichijo--will always be remembered +as one of the family's greatest experts. But there were many others +whose productions fully equalled and often excelled the best efforts of +the Goto. The following list gives the names and periods of the most +renowned families:-- + + (It should be noted that the division by centuries indicates the time + of a family's origin. In a great majority of cases the representatives + of each generation worked on through succeeding centuries). + + _15th and 16th Centuries._ + + Miyochin; Goto; Umetada; Muneta; Aoki; Soami; Nakai. + + _17th Century._ + + Kuwamura; Mizuno; Koichi; Nagayoshi; + Kuninaga; Yoshishige; Katsugi; Tsuji; + Muneyoshi; Tadahira; Shoami; Hosono; + Yokoya; Nara; Okada; Okamoto; Kinai; Akao; + Yoshioka; Hirata; Nomura; Wakabayashi; Inouye; + Yasui; Chiyo; Kaneko; Uemura; Iwamoto. + + _18th Century._ + + Gorobei; Shoemon; Kikugawa; Yasuyama; Noda; Tamagawa; Fujita; Kikuoka; + Kizaemon; Hamano; Omori; Okamoto; Kashiwaya; Kusakari; Shichibei; Ito. + + _19th Century._ + + Natsuo; Ishiguro; Yanagawa; Honjo; Tanaka; Okano; Kawarabayashi; Oda; + and many masters of the Omori, Hamano and Iwamoto families, as well as + the five experts, Shuraku, Temmin, Ryumin, Minjo and Minkoku. + (W. An.; F. By.) + + + Japanese Point of View. + +There is a radical difference between the points of view of the Japanese +and the Western connoisseur in estimating the merits of sculpture in +metal. The quality of the chiselling is the first feature to which the +Japanese directs his attention; the decorative design is the prime +object of the Occidental's attention. With very rare exceptions, the +decorative motives of Japanese sword furniture were always supplied by +painters. Hence it is that the Japanese connoisseur draws a clear +distinction between the decorative design and its technical execution, +crediting the former to the pictorial artist and the latter to the +sculptor. He detects in the stroke of a chisel and the lines of a +graving tool subjective beauties which appear to be hidden from the +great majority of Western dilettanti. He estimates the rank of a +specimen by the quality of the chisel-work. The Japanese _kinzoku-shi_ +(metal sculptor) uses thirty-six principal classes of chisel, each with +its distinctive name, and as most of these classes comprise from five to +ten sub-varieties, his cutting and graving tools aggregate about two +hundred and fifty. + + + The Field for Sculptured Decoration. + +Scarcely less important in Japanese eyes than the chiselling of the +decorative design itself is the preparation of the field to which it is +applied. There used to be a strict canon with reference to this in +former times. _Namako_ (fish-roe) grounds were essential for the +mountings of swords worn on ceremonial occasions, the _ishime_ +(stone-pitting) or _jimigaki_ (polished) styles being considered less +aristocratic. + + Namako is obtained by punching the whole surface--except the portion + carrying the decorative design--into a texture of microscopic dots. + The first makers of namako did not aim at regularity in the + distribution of these dots; they were content to produce the effect of + millet-seed sifted haphazard over the surface. But from the 15th + century the punching of the dots in rigidly straight lines came to be + considered essential, and the difficulty involved was so great that + namako-making took its place among the highest technical achievements + of the sculptor. When it is remembered that the punching tool was + guided solely by the hand and eye, and that three or more blows of the + mallet had to be struck for every dot, some conception may be formed + of the patience and accuracy needed to produce these tiny + protuberances in perfectly straight lines, at exactly equal intervals + and of absolutely uniform size. Namako disposed in straight parallel + lines originally ranked at the head of this kind of work. But a new + kind was introduced in the 16th century. It was obtained by punching + the dots in intersecting lines, so arranged that the dots fell + uniformly into diamond-shaped groups of five each. This is called + _go-no-me-namako_, because of its resemblance to the disposition of + chequers in the Japanese game of _go_. A century later, the _daimyo + namako_ was invented, in which lines of dots alternated with lines of + polished ground. _Ishime_ may be briefly described as diapering. There + is scarcely any limit to the ingenuity and skill of the Japanese + expert in diapering a metal surface. It is not possible to enumerate + here even the principal styles of ishime, but mention may be made of + the _zara-maki_ (broad-cast), in which the surface is finely but + irregularly pitted after the manner of the face of a stone; the + _nashi-ji_ (pear-ground), in which we have a surface like the rind of + a pear; the _hari-ishime_ (needle ishime), where the indentations are + so minute that they seem to have been made with the point of a needle; + the _gama-ishime_, which is intended to imitate the skin of a toad; + the _tsuya-ishime_, produced with a chisel sharpened so that its + traces have a lustrous appearance; the _ore-kuchi_ (broken-tool), a + peculiar kind obtained with a jagged tool; and the _gozamé_, which + resembles the plaited surface of a fine straw mat. + + + Patina. + + Great importance has always been attached by Japanese experts to the + patina of metal used for artistic chiselling. It was mainly for the + sake of their patina that value attached to the remarkable alloys + _shakudo_ (3 parts of gold to 97 of copper) and _shibuichi_ (1 part of + silver to 3 of copper). Neither metal, when it emerges from the + furnace, has any beauty, shakudo being simply dark-coloured copper and + shibuichi pale gun-metal. But after proper treatment[2] the former + develops a glossy black patina with violet sheen, and the latter shows + beautiful shades of grey with silvery lustre. Both these compounds + afford delicate, unobtrusive and effective grounds for inlaying with + gold, silver and other metals, as well as for sculpture, whether + incised or in relief. Copper, too, by patina-producing treatment, is + made to show not merely a rich golden sheen with pleasing limpidity, + but also red of various hues, from deep coral to light vermilion, + several shades of grey, and browns of numerous tones from dead-leaf to + chocolate. Even greater value has always been set upon the patina of + iron, and many secret recipes were preserved in artist families for + producing the fine, satin-like texture so much admired by all + connoisseurs. + + + Methods of Chiselling. + + In Japan, as in Europe, three varieties of relief carving are + distinguished--_alto_ (_taka-bori_), mezzo (_chuniku-bori_) and + _basso_ (_usuniku-bori_). In the opinion of the Japanese expert, these + styles hold the same respective rank as that occupied by the three + kinds of ideographic script in caligraphy. High relief carving + corresponds to the _kaisho_, or most classical form of writing; medium + relief to the _gyosho_, or semi-cursive style; and low relief to the + _sosho_ or grass character. With regard to incised chiselling, the + commonest form is _kebori_ (hair-carving), which may be called + engraving, the lines being of uniform thickness and depth. Very + beautiful results are obtained by the kebori method, but incomparably + the finest work in the incised class is that known as + _kata-kiri-bori_. In this kind of chiselling the Japanese artist can + claim to be unique as well as unrivalled. Evidently the idea of the + great Yokoya experts, the originators of the style, was to break away + from the somewhat formal monotony of ordinary engraving, where each + line performs exactly the same function, and to convert the chisel + into an artist's brush instead of using it as a common cutting tool. + They succeeded admirably. In the kata-kiri-bori every line has its + proper value in the pictorial design, and strength and directness + become cardinal elements in the strokes of the burin just as they do + in the brushwork of the picture-painter. The same fundamental rule + applied, too, whether the field of the decoration was silk, paper or + metal. The artist's tool, be it brush or burin, must perform its task + by one effort. There must be no appearance of subsequent deepening, or + extending, or re-cutting or finishing. Kata-kiri-bori by a great + expert is a delight. One is lost in astonishment at the nervous yet + perfectly regulated force and the unerring fidelity of every trace of + the chisel. Another variety of carving much affected by artists of the + 17th century, and now largely used, is called _shishi-ai-bori_ or + _niku-ai-bori_. In this style the surface of the design is not raised + above the general plane of the field, but an effect of projection is + obtained either by recessing the whole space immediately surrounding + the design, or by enclosing the latter in a scarped frame. Yet another + and very favourite method, giving beautiful results, is to model the + design on both faces of the metal so as to give a sculpture in the + round. The fashion is always accompanied by chiselling _à jour_ + (_sukashi-bori_), so that the sculptured portions stand out in their + entirety. + + + Inlaying. + + Inlaying with gold or silver was among the early forms of decoration + in Japan. The skill developed in modern times is at least equal to + anything which the past can show, and the results produced are much + more imposing. There are two principal kinds of inlaying: the first + called _hon-zogan_ (true inlaying), the second _nunome-zogan_ + (linen-mesh inlaying). As to the former, the Japanese method does not + differ from that seen in the beautiful iron censers and vases inlaid + with gold which the Chinese produced from the _Süen-te_ era + (1426-1436). In the surface of the metal the workman cuts grooves + wider at the base than at the top, and then hammers into them gold or + silver wire. Such a process presents no remarkable features, except + that it has been carried by the Japanese to an extraordinary degree of + elaborateness. The nunome-zogan is more interesting. Suppose, for + example, that the artist desires to produce an inlaid diaper. His + first business is to chisel the surface in lines forming the basic + pattern of the design. Thus, for a diamond-petal diaper the chisel is + carried across the face of the metal horizontally, tracing a number of + parallel bands divided at fixed intervals by ribs which are obtained + by merely straightening the chisel and striking it a heavy blow. The + same process is then repeated in another direction, so that the new + bands cross the old at an angle adapted to the nature of the design. + Several independent chisellings may be necessary before the lines of + the diaper emerge clearly, but throughout the whole operation no + measurement of any kind is taken, the artist being guided entirely by + his hand and eye. The metal is then heated, not to redness, but + sufficiently to develop a certain degree of softness, and the workman, + taking a very thin sheet of gold (or silver), hammers portions of it + into the salient points of the design. In ordinary cases this is the + sixth process. The seventh is to hammer gold into the outlines of the + diaper; the eighth, to hammer it into the pattern filling the spaces + between the lines, and the ninth and tenth to complete the details. Of + course the more intricate the design the more numerous the processes. + It is scarcely possible to imagine a higher effort of hand and eye + than this _nunome-zogan_ displays, for while intricacy and + elaborateness are carried to the very extreme, absolute mechanical + accuracy is obtained. Sometimes in the same design we see gold of + three different hues, obtained by varying the alloy. A third kind of + inlaying, peculiar to Japan, is _sumi-zogan_ (ink-inlaying), so called + because the inlaid design gives the impression of having been painted + with Indian ink beneath the transparent surface of the metal. The + difference between this process and ordinary inlaying is that for + _sumi-zogan_ the design to be inlaid is fully chiselled out of an + independent block of metal with sides sloping so as to be broader at + the base than at the top. The object which is to receive the + decoration is then channelled in dimensions corresponding to those of + the design block, and the latter having been fixed in the channels, + the surface is ground and polished until an intimate union is obtained + between the inlaid design and the metal forming its field. Very + beautiful effects are thus produced, for the design seems to have + grown up to the surface of the metal field rather than to have been + planted in it. Shibuichi inlaid with shakudo used to be the commonest + combination of metals in this class of decoration, and the objects + usually depicted were bamboos, crows, wild-fowl under the moon, peony + sprays and so forth. + + + Wood-grained Grounds. + + A variety of decoration much practised by early experts, and carried + to a high degree of excellence in modern times, is _mokume-ji_ + (wood-grained ground). The process in this case is to take a thin + plate of metal and beat it into another plate of similar metal, so + that the two, though welded together, retain their separate forms. The + mass, while still hot, is coated with _hena-tsuchi_ (a kind of marl) + and rolled in straw ash, in which state it is roasted over a charcoal + fire raised to glowing heat with the bellows. The clay having been + removed, another plate of the same metal is beaten in, and the same + process is repeated. This is done several times, the number depending + on the quality of graining that the expert desires to produce. The + manifold plate is then heavily punched from one side, so that the + opposite face protrudes in broken blisters, which are then hammered + down until each becomes a centre of wave propagation. In fine work the + apex of the blister is ground off before the final hammering. Iron was + the metal used exclusively for work of this kind down to the 16th + century, but various metals began thenceforth to be combined. Perhaps + the choicest variety is gold graining in a shakudo field. By repeated + hammering and polishing the expert obtains such control of the + wood-grain pattern that its sinuosities and eddies seem to have + developed symmetry without losing anything of their fantastic grace. + There are other methods of producing _mokume-ji_. + + + Modern and Ancient Skill. + +It has been frequently asserted by Western critics that the year (1876) +which witnessed the abolition of sword-wearing in Japan, witnessed also +the end of her artistic metal-work. That is a great mistake. The art has +merely developed new phases in modern times. Not only are its masters as +skilled now as they were in the days of the Goto, the Nara, the Yokoya +and the Yanagawa celebrities, but also their productions must be called +greater in many respects and more interesting than those of their +renowned predecessors. They no longer devote themselves to the +manufacture of sword ornaments, but work rather at vases, censers, +statuettes, plaques, boxes and other objects of a serviceable or +ornamental nature. All the processes described above are practised by +them with full success, and they have added others quite as remarkable. + + Of these, one of the most interesting is called _kiribame_ + (insertion). The decorative design having been completely chiselled in + the round, is then fixed in a field of a different metal, in which a + design of exactly similar outline has been cut out. The result is that + the picture has no blank reverse. For example, on the surface of a + shibuichi box-lid we see the backs of a flock of geese chiselled in + silver, and when the lid is opened, their breasts and the under-sides + of their pinions appear. The difficulty of such work is plain. + Microscopic accuracy has to be attained in cutting out the space for + the insertion of the design, and while the latter must be soldered + firmly in its place, not the slightest trace of solder or the least + sign of junction must be discernible between the metal of the inserted + picture and that of the field in which it is inserted. Suzuki Gensuke + is the inventor of this method. He belongs to a class of experts + called _uchimono-shi_ (hammerers) who perform preparatory work for + glyptic artists in metal. The skill of these men is often wonderful. + Using the hammer only, some of them can beat out an intricate shape as + truly and delicately as a sculptor could carve it with his chisels. + Ohori Masatoshi, an uchimono-shi of Aizu (d. 1897), made a silver + cake-box in the form of a sixteen-petalled chrysanthemum. The shapes + of the body and lid corresponded so intimately that, whereas the lid + could be slipped on easily and smoothly without any attempt to adjust + its curves to those of the body, it always fitted so closely that the + box could be lifted by grasping the lid only. Another feat of his was + to apply a lining of silver to a shakudo box by shaping and hammering + only, the fit being so perfect that the lining clung like paper to + every part of the box. Suzuki Gensuke and Hirata Soko are scarcely + less expert. The latter once exhibited in Tokyo a silver game-cock + with soft plumage and surface modelling of the most delicate + character. It had been made by means of the hammer only. Suzuki's + kiribame process is not to be confounded with the _kiribame-zogan_ + (inserted inlaying) of Toyoda Koko, also a modern artist. The gist of + the latter method is that a design chiselled _à jour_ has its outlines + veneered with other metal which serves to emphasize them. Thus, having + pierced a spray of flowers in a thin sheet of shibuichi, the artist + fits a slender rim of gold, silver or shakudo to the petals, leaves + and stalks, so that an effect is produced of transparent blossoms + outlined in gold, silver or purple. Another modern achievement--also + due to Suzuki Gensuke--is _maze-gane_ (mixed metals). It is a singular + conception, and the results obtained depend largely on chance. + Shibuichi and shakudo are melted separately, and when they have cooled + just enough not to mingle too intimately, they are cast into a bar + which is subsequently beaten flat. The plate thus obtained shows + accidental clouding, or massing of dark tones, and these patches are + taken as the basis of a pictorial design to which final character is + given by inlaying with gold and silver, and by kata-kiri sculpture. + Such pictures partake largely of the impressionist character, but they + attain much beauty in the hands of the Japanese artist with his + extensive _répertoire_ of suggestive symbols. A process resembling + maze-gane, but less fortuitous, is _shibuichi-doshi_ (combined + shibuichi), which involves beating together two kinds of shibuichi and + then adding a third variety, after which the details of the picture + are worked in as in the case of maze-gane. The charm of these methods + is that certain parts of the decorative design seem to float, not on + the surface of the metal, but actually within it, an admirable effect + of depth and atmosphere being thus produced. Mention must also be made + of an extraordinarily elaborate and troublesome process invented by + Kajima Ippu, a great artist of the present day. It is called + _togi-dashi-zogan_ (ground-out inlaying). In this exquisite and + ingenious kind of work the design appears to be growing up from the + depths of the metal, and a delightful impression of atmosphere and + water is obtained. All these processes, as well as that of _repoussé_, + in which the Japanese have excelled from a remote period, are now + practised with the greatest skill in Tokyo, Kioto, Osaka and Kanazawa. + At the art exhibitions held twice a year in the principal cities there + may be seen specimens of statuettes, alcove ornaments, and household + utensils which show that the Japanese worker in metals stands more + indisputably than ever at the head of the world's artists in that + field. The Occident does not yet appear to have full realized the + existence of such talent in Japan; partly perhaps because its displays + in former times were limited chiefly to sword-furniture, possessing + little interest for the average European or American; and partly + because the Japanese have not yet learned to adapt their skill to + foreign requirements. They confine themselves at present to decorating + plaques, boxes and cases for cigars or cigarettes, and an occasional + tea or coffee service; but the whole domain of salvers, + dessert-services, race-cups and so on remains virtually unexplored. + Only within the past few years have stores been established in the + foreign settlements for the sale of silver utensils, and already the + workmanship on these objects displays palpable signs of the + deterioration which all branches of Japanese art have undergone in the + attempt to cater for foreign taste. In a general sense the European or + American connoisseur is much less exacting than the Japanese. Broad + effects of richness and splendour captivate the former, whereas the + latter looks for delicacy of finish, accuracy of detail and, above + all, evidences of artistic competence. It is nothing to a Japanese + that a vase should be covered with profuse decoration of flowers and + foliage: he requires that every blossom and every leaf shall be + instinct with vitality, and the comparative costliness of fine + workmanship does not influence his choice. But if the Japanese + sculptor adopted such standards in working for foreign patrons, his + market would be reduced to very narrow dimensions. He therefore adapts + himself to his circumstances, and, using the mould rather than the + chisel, produces specimens which snow tawdry handsomeness and are + attractively cheap. It must be admitted, however, that even though + foreign appreciative faculty were sufficiently educated, the Japanese + artist in metals would still labour under the great difficulty of + devising shapes to take the place of those which Europe and America + have learned to consider classical. + + + Bronze Casting. + +Bronze is called by the Japanese _kara-kane_, a term signifying "Chinese +metal" and showing clearly the source from which knowledge of the alloy +was obtained. It is a copper-lead-tin compound, the proportions of its +constituents varying from 72 to 88% of copper, from 4 to 20% of lead and +from 2 to 8% of tin. There are also present small quantities of arsenic +and antimony, and zinc is found generally as a mere trace, but sometimes +reaching to 6%. Gold is supposed to have found a place in ancient +bronzes, but its presence has never been detected by analysis, and of +silver not more than 2% seems to have been admitted at any time. Mr W. +Gowland has shown that, whatever may have been the practice of Japanese +bronze makers in ancient and medieval eras, their successors in later +days deliberately introduced arsenic and antimony into the compound in +order to harden the bronze without impairing its fusibility, so that it +might take a sharper impression of the mould. Japanese bronze is well +suited for castings, not only because of its low melting-point, great +fluidity and capacity for taking sharp impressions, but also because it +has a particularly smooth surface and readily develops a fine patina. +One variety deserves special mention. It is a golden yellow bronze, +called _sentoku_--this being the Japanese pronunciation of _Suen-te_, +the era of the Ming dynasty of China when this compound was invented. +Copper, tin, lead and zinc, mixed in various proportions by different +experts, are the ingredients, and the beautiful golden hues and glossy +texture of the surface are obtained by patina-producing processes, in +which branch of metal-work the Japanese show altogether unique skill. + + From the time when they began to cast bronze statues, Japanese experts + understood how to employ a hollow, removable core round which the + metal was run in a skin just thick enough for strength without waste + of material; and they also understood the use of wax for modelling + purposes. In ordinary circumstances, a casting thus obtained took the + form of a shell without any break of continuity. But for very large + castings the process had to be modified. The great image of Lochana + Buddha at Nara, for example, would measure 138 ft. in height were it + standing erect, and its weight is about 550 tons. The colossal Amida + at Kamakura has a height only 3 ft. less. It would have been scarcely + possible to cast such statues in one piece _in situ_, or, if cast + elsewhere, to transport them and elevate them on their pedestals. The + plan pursued was to build them up gradually in their places by + casting segment after segment. Thus, for the Nara Daibutsu, the mould + was constructed in a series of steps ascending 12 in. at a time, until + the head and neck were reached, which, of course, had to be cast in + one shell, 12 ft. high. + + The term "parlour bronzes" serves to designate objects for domestic + use, as flower-vases, incense-burners and alcove ornaments. + Bronze-casters began to turn their attention to these objects about + the middle of the 17th century. The art of casting bronze reached its + culmination in the hands of a group of great experts--Seimin, Toun, + Masatune, Teijo, Somin, Keisai, Takusai, Gido, Zenryusai and + Hotokusai--who flourished during the second half of the 18th century + and the first half of the 19th. Many brilliant specimens of these + men's work survive, their general features being that the motives are + naturalistic, that the quality of the metal is exceptionally fine, + that in addition to beautifully clear casting obtained by highly + skilled use of the _cera-perduta_ process, the chisel was employed to + impart delicacy and finish to the design, and that modelling in high + relief is most successfully introduced. But it is a mistake to assert, + as many have asserted, that after the era of the above ten + masters--the latest of whom, Somin, ceased to work in 1871--no bronzes + comparable with theirs were cast. Between 1875 and 1879 some of the + finest bronzes ever produced in Japan were turned out by a group of + experts working under the business name of Sanseisha. Started by two + brothers, Oshima Katsujiro (art-name Joun) and Oshima Yasutaro + (art-name Shokaku), this association secured the services of a number + of skilled chisellers of sword-furniture, who had lost their + occupation by the abandonment of sword-wearing. Nothing could surpass + the delicacy of the works executed at the Sanseisha's atelier in + Tokyo, but unfortunately such productions were above the standard of + the customers for whom they were intended. Foreign buyers, who alone + stood in the market at that time, failed to distinguish the fine and + costly bronzes of Joun, Shokaku and their colleagues from cheap + imitations which soon began to compete with them, so that ultimately + the Sanseisha had to be closed. This page in the modern history of + Japan's bronzes needs little alteration to be true of her applied art + in general. Foreign demand has shown so little discrimination that + experts, finding it impossible to obtain adequate remuneration for + first-class work, have been obliged to abandon the field altogether, + or to lower their standard to the level of general appreciation, or by + forgery to cater for the perverted taste which attaches unreasoning + value to age. Joun has produced, and is thoroughly capable of + producing, bronzes at least equal to the best of Seimin's + masterpieces, yet he has often been induced to put Seimin's name on + objects for the sake of attracting buyers who attach more value to + cachet than to quality. If to the names of Joun and his brilliant + pupil Ryuki we add those of Suzuki Chokichi, Okazaki Sessei, Hasegawa + Kumazo, Kanaya Gorosaburo and Jomi Eisuke, we have a group of modern + bronze-casters who unquestionably surpass the ten experts beginning + with Seimin and ending with Somin. Okazaki Sessei has successfully + achieved the casting of huge panels carrying designs in high relief; + and whether there is question of patina or of workmanship, Jomi Eisuke + has never been surpassed. + + Occidental influence has been felt, of course, in the field of modern + bronze-casting. At a school of art officially established in Tokyo in + 1873 under the direction of Italian teachers--a school which owed its + signal failure partly to the incompetence and intemperate behaviour of + some of its foreign professors, and partly to a strong renaissance of + pure Japanese classicism--one of the few accomplishments successfully + taught was that of modelling in plaster and chiselling in marble after + Occidental methods. Marble statues are out of place in the wooden + buildings as well as in the parks of Japan, and even plaster busts or + groups, though less incongruous perhaps, have not yet found favour. + Hence the skill undoubtedly possessed by several graduates of the + defunct art school has to be devoted chiefly to a subordinate purpose, + namely, the fashioning of models for metal-casters. To this + combination of modellers in European style and metal-workers of such + force as Suzuki and Okazaki, Japan owes various memorial bronzes and + effigies which are gradually finding a place in her parks, her + museums, her shrines or her private houses. There is here little + departure from the well-trodden paths of Europe. Studies in drapery, + prancing steeds, ideal poses, heads with fragments of torsos attached + (in extreme violation of true art), crouching beasts of prey--all the + stereotyped styles are reproduced. The imitation is excellent. + + + Carving in Wood and Ivory. + +Among the artists of early times it is often difficult to distinguish +between the carver of wood and the caster of bronze. The latter +sometimes made his own models in wax, sometimes chiselled them in wood, +and sometimes had recourse to a specialist in wood-carving. The group of +splendid sculptors in wood that graced the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries +left names never to be forgotten, but undoubtedly many other artists of +scarcely less force regarded bronze-casting as their principal business. +Thus the story of wood-carving is very difficult to trace. Even in the +field of architectural decoration for interiors, tradition tells us +scarcely anything about the masters who carved such magnificent works as +those seen in the Kioto temples, the Tokugawa mausolea, and some of the +old castles. There are, however, no modern developments of such work to +be noted. The ability of former times exists and is exercised in the old +way, though the field for its employment has been greatly narrowed. + +[Illustration: PLATE V. SCULPTURE + + FIG. 11.--VAJRA MALLA. By Unkei (13th century). + + FIG. 12.--STATUE OF ASANGA (12th century, artist unknown). + + FIG. 13.--STATUES OF BUDDHA AMI'TABHA AND TWO BODHISATTVAS (7th + century).] + +[Illustration: PLATE VI. METAL WORK AND LACQUER + + FIG 14.--DOOR OF BRONZE LANTERN IN THE TODAI TEMPLE (8th century). + + FIG. 15.--BRONZE DUCK INCENSE BURNER (15th century). British Museum. + + FIG. 16.--BRONZE MIRROR (12th to 13th century). + + FIG. 17.--INKSTONE BOX IN LACQUER. By Koyetsu (1557-1637).] + + + Netsuke Carvers. + + When Japanese sculpture in wood or ivory is spoken of, the first idea + that presents itself is connected with the netsuke, which, of all the + art objects found in Japan, is perhaps the most essentially Japanese. + If Japan had given us nothing but the netsuke, we should still have no + difficulty in differentiating the bright versatility of her national + genius from the comparatively sombre, mechanic and unimaginative + temperament of the Chinese. But the netsuke may now be said to be a + thing of the past. The _inro_ (medicine-box), which it mainly served + to fix in the girdle, has been driven out of fashion by the new + civilization imported from the West, and artists who would have carved + netsuke in former times now devote their chisels to statuettes and + alcove ornaments. It is not to be inferred, however, though it is a + favourite assertion of collectors, that no good netsuke have been made + in modern times. That theory is based upon the fact that after the + opening of the country to foreign intercourse in 1857, hundreds of + inferior specimens of netsuke were chiselled by inexpert hands, + purchased wholesale by treaty-port merchants, and sent to New York, + London and Paris, where, though they brought profit to the exporter, + they also disgusted the connoisseur and soon earned discredit for + their whole class. But in fact the glyptic artists of Tokyo, Osaka and + Kioto, though they now devote their chisels chiefly to works of more + importance than the netsuke, are in no sense inferior to their + predecessors of feudal days, and many beautiful netsuke bearing their + signatures are in existence. As for the modern ivory statuette or + alcove ornament, of which great numbers are now carved for the foreign + market, it certainly stands on a plane much higher than the netsuke, + since anatomical defects which escape notice in the latter owing to + its diminutive size, become obtrusive in the former. + + + The Realistic Departure. + + One of the most remarkable developments of figure sculpture in modern + Japan was due to Matsumoto Kisaburo (1830-1869). He carved human + figures with as much accuracy as though they were destined for + purposes of surgical demonstration. Considering that this man had + neither art education nor anatomical instruction, and that he never + enjoyed an opportunity of studying from a model in a studio, his + achievements were remarkable. He and the craftsmen of the school he + established completely refute the theory that the anatomical solecisms + commonly seen in the works of Japanese sculptors are due to faulty + observation. Without scientific training of any kind Matsumoto and his + followers produced works in which the eye of science cannot detect any + error. But it is impossible to admit within the circle of high-art + productions these wooden figures of everyday men and women, unrelieved + by any subjective element, and owing their merit entirely to the + fidelity with which their contours are shaped, their muscles modelled, + and their anatomical proportions preserved. They have not even the + attraction of being cleanly sculptured in wood, but are covered with + thinly lacquered muslin, which, though doubtless a good preservative, + accentuates their puppet-like character. Nevertheless, Matsumoto's + figures marked an epoch in Japanese wood sculpture. Their vivid + realism appealed strongly to the taste of the average foreigner. A + considerable school of carvers soon began to work in the Matsumoto + style, and hundreds of their productions have gone to Europe and + America, finding no market in Japan. + + + The Semi-foreign School. + + Midway between the Matsumoto school and the pure style approved by the + native taste in former times stand a number of wood-carvers headed by + Takamura Koun, who occupies in the field of sculpture much the same + place as that held by Hashimoto Gaho in the realm of painting. Koun + carves figures in the round which not only display great power of + chisel and breadth of style, but also tell a story not necessarily + drawn from the motives of the classical school. This departure from + established canons must be traced to the influence of the short-lived + academy of Italian art established by the Japanese government early in + the Meiji era. In the forefront of the new movement are to be found + men like Yoneharu Unkai and Shinkai Taketaro; the former chiselled a + figure of Jenner for the Medical Association of Japan when they + celebrated the centenary of the great physician, and the latter has + carved life-size effigies of two Imperial princes who lost their lives + in the war with China (1894-95). The artists of the Koun school, + however, do much work which appeals to emotions in general rather than + to individual memories. Thus Arakawa Reiun, one of Koun's most + brilliant pupils, has exhibited a figure of a swordsman in the act of + driving home a furious thrust. The weapon is not shown. Reiun + sculptured simply a man poised on the toes of one foot, the other foot + raised, the arm extended, and the body straining forward in strong yet + elastic muscular effort. A more imaginative work by the same artist + is a figure of a farmer who has just shot an eagle that swooped upon + his grandson. The old man holds his bow still raised. Some of the + eagle's feathers, blown to his side, suggest the death of the bird; at + his feet lies the corpse of the little boy, and the horror, grief and + anger that such a tragedy would inspire are depicted with striking + realism in the farmer's face. Such work has very close affinities with + Occidental conceptions. The chief distinguishing feature is that the + glyptic character is preserved at the expense of surface finish. The + undisguised touches of the chisel tell a story of technical force and + directness which could not be suggested by perfectly smooth surfaces. + To subordinate process to result is the European canon; to show the + former without marring the latter is the Japanese ideal. Many of + Koun's sculptures appear unfinished to eyes trained in Occidental + galleries, whereas the Japanese connoisseur detects evidence of a + technical feat in their seeming roughness. + + + Private Dwellings. + +_Architecture._--From the evidence of ancient records it appears that +before the 5th century the Japanese resided in houses of a very rude +character. The sovereign's palace itself was merely a wooden hut. Its +pillars were thrust into the ground and the whole framework--consisting +of posts, beams, rafters, door-posts and window-frames--was tied +together with cords made by twisting the long fibrous stems of climbing +plants. The roof was thatched, and perhaps had a gable at each end with +a hole to allow the smoke of the wood fire to escape. Wooden doors swung +on a kind of hook; the windows were mere holes in the walls. Rugs of +skins or rush matting were used for sitting on, and the whole was +surrounded with a palisade. In the middle of the 5th century +two-storeyed houses seem to have been built, but the evidence on the +subject is slender. In the 8th century, however, when the court was +moved to Nara, the influence of Chinese civilization made itself felt. +Architects, turners, tile-makers, decorative artists and sculptors, +coming from China and from Korea, erected grand temples for the worship +of Buddha enshrining images of much beauty and adorned with paintings +and carvings of considerable merit. The plan of the city itself was +taken from that of the Chinese metropolis. A broad central avenue led +straight to the palace, and on either side of it ran four parallel +streets, crossed at right angles by smaller thoroughfares. During this +century the first sumptuary edict ordered that the dwellings of all high +officials and opulent civilians should have tiled roofs and be coloured +red, the latter injunction being evidently intended to stop the use of +logs carrying their bark. Tiles thenceforth became the orthodox covering +for a roof, but vermilion, being regarded as a religious colour, found +no favour in private dwellings. In the 9th century, after the capital +had been established at Kioto, the palace of the sovereigns and the +mansions of ministers and nobles were built on a scale of unprecedented +grandeur. It is true that all the structures of the time had the defect +of a box-like appearance. Massive, towering roofs, which impart an air +of stateliness even to a wooden building and yet, by their graceful +curves, avoid any suggestion of ponderosity, were still confined to +Buddhist edifices. The architect of private dwellings attached more +importance to satin-surfaced boards and careful joinery than to any +appearance of strength or solidity. + + Except for the number of buildings composing it, the palace had little + to distinguish it from a nobleman's mansion. The latter consisted of a + principal hall, where the master of the house lived, ate and slept, + and of three suites of chambers, disposed on the north, the east and + the west of the principal hall. In the northern suite the lady of the + house dwelt, the eastern and western suites being allotted to other + members of the family. Corridors joined the principal hall to the + subordinate edifices, for as yet the idea had not been conceived of + having more than one chamber under the same roof. The principal hall + was usually 42 ft. square. Its centre was occupied by a "parent + chamber," 30 ft. square, around which ran an ambulatory and a veranda, + each 6 ft. wide. The parent chamber and the ambulatory were ceiled, + sometimes with interlacing strips of bark or broad laths, so as to + produce a plaited effect; sometimes with plain boards. The veranda had + no ceiling. Sliding doors, a characteristic feature of modern Japanese + houses, had not yet come into use, and no means were provided for + closing the veranda, but the ambulatory was surrounded by a wall of + latticed timber or plain boards, the lower half of which could be + removed altogether, whereas the upper half, suspended from hooks, + could be swung upward and outward. Privacy was obtained by blinds of + split bamboo, and the parent chamber was separated from the + ambulatory by similar bamboo blinds with silk cords for raising or + lowering them, or by curtains. The thick rectangular mats of uniform + size which, fitting together so as to present a level unbroken + surface, cover the floor of all modern Japanese houses, were not yet + in use: floors were boarded, having only a limited space matted. This + form of mansion underwent little modification until the 12th century, + when the introduction of the Zen sect of Buddhism with its + contemplative practice called for greater privacy. Interiors were then + divided into smaller rooms by means of sliding doors covered with thin + rice-paper, which permitted the passage of light while obstructing + vision; the hanging lattices were replaced by wooden doors which could + be slid along a groove so as to be removable in the daytime, and an + alcove was added in the principal chamber for a sacred picture or + Buddhist image to serve as an object of contemplation for a devotee + while practising the rite of abstraction. Thus the main features of + the Japanese dwelling-house were evolved, and little change took place + subsequently, except that the brush of the painter was freely used for + decorating partitions, and in aristocratic mansions unlimited care was + exercised in the choice of rare woods. + + + Buddhist Temple Architecture. + +The Buddhist temple underwent little change at Japanese hands except in +the matter of decoration. Such as it was in outline when first erected +in accordance with Chinese models, such it virtually remained, though in +later times all the resources of the sculptor and the painter were +employed to beautify it externally and internally. + + "The building, sometimes of huge dimensions, is invariably surrounded + by a raised gallery, reached by a flight of steps in the centre of the + approach front, the balustrade of which is a continuation of the + gallery railing. This gallery is sometimes supported upon a deep + system of bracketing, corbelled out from the feet of the main pillars. + Within this raised gallery, which is sheltered by the over-sailing + eaves, there is, in the larger temples, a columned loggia passing + round the two sides and the front of the building, or, in some cases, + placed on the façade only. The ceilings of the loggias are generally + sloping, with richly carved roof-timbers showing below at intervals; + and quaintly carved braces connect the outer pillars with the main + posts of the building. Some temples are to be seen in which the + ceiling of the loggia is boarded flat and decorated with large + paintings of dragons in black and gold. The intercolumniation is + regulated by a standard of about six or seven feet, and the general + result of the treatment of columns, wall-posts, &c., is that the whole + mural space, not filled in with doors or windows, is divided into + regular oblong panels, which sometimes receive plaster, sometimes + boarding and sometimes rich framework and carving or painted panels. + Diagonal bracing or strutting is nowhere to be found, and in many + cases mortises and other joints are such as very materially to weaken + the timbers at their points of connexion. It would seem that only the + immense weight of the roofs and their heavy projections prevent a + collapse of some of these structures in high winds. The principal + façade of the temple is filled in one, two or three compartments with + hinged doors, variously ornamented and folding outwards, sometimes in + double folds. From these doorways, generally left open, the interior + light is principally obtained, windows, as the term is generally + understood, being rare. An elaborate cornice of wooden bracketing + crowns the walls, forming one of the principal ornaments of the + building. The whole disposition of pillars, posts, brackets and + rafters is harmonically arranged according to some measure of the + standard of length. A very important feature of the façade is the + portico or porch-way, which covers the principal steps and is + generally formed by producing the central portion of the main roof + over the steps and supporting such projection upon isolated wooden + pillars braced together near the top with horizontal ties, carved, + moulded and otherwise fantastically decorated. Above these ties are + the cornice brackets and beams, corresponding in general design to the + cornice of the walls, and the intermediate space is filled with open + carvings of dragons or other characteristic designs. The forms of roof + are various, but mostly they commence in a steep slope at the top, + gradually flattening towards the eaves so as to produce a slightly + concave appearance, this concavity being rendered more emphatic by the + tilt which is given to the eaves at the four corners. The appearance + of the ends of the roof is half hip, half gable. Heavy ribs of + tile-cresting with large terminals are carried along the ridge and the + slope of the gable. The result of the whole is very picturesque, and + has the advantage of looking equally satisfactory from any point of + view. The interior arrangement of wall columns, horizontal beams and + cornice bracketing corresponds with that on the outside. The ceiling + is invariably boarded and subdivided by ribs into small rectangular + coffers. Sometimes painting is introduced into these panels and + lacquer and metal clasps are added to the ribs. When the temple is of + very large dimensions an interior peristyle of pillars is introduced + to assist in supporting the roof, and in such cases each pillar + carries profuse bracketing corresponding to that of the cornice. The + construction of the framework of the Japanese roof is such that the + weights all act vertically; there is no thrust on the outer walls, + and every available point of the interior is used as a means of + support. + + "The floor is partly boarded and partly matted. The shrines, altars + and oblatory tables are placed at the back in the centre, and there + are often other secondary shrines at the sides. In temples of the best + class the floor of the gallery and of the central portion of the main + building from entrance to altar are richly lacquered; in those of + inferior class they are merely polished by continued rubbing."--(J. + Conder, in the _Proceedings of the Royal Institute of British + Architects._) + + + Shinto Architecture. + +None of the magnificence of the Buddhist temple belongs to the Shinto +shrine. In the case of the latter conservatism has been absolute from +time immemorial. The shrines of Ise, which may be called the Mecca of +Shinto devotees, are believed to present to-day precisely the appearance +they presented in 478, when they were moved thither in obedience to a +revelation from the Sun-goddess. It has been the custom to rebuild them +every twentieth year, alternately on each of two sites set apart for the +purpose, the features of the old edifice being reproduced in the new +with scrupulous accuracy. + + They are enlarged replicas of the primeval wooden hut described above, + having rafters with their upper ends crossed; thatched or shingled + roof; boarded floors, and logs laid on the roof-ridge at right angles + for the purpose of binding the ridge and the rafters firmly together. + A thatched roof is imperative in the orthodox shrine, but in modern + days tiles or sheets of copper are sometimes substituted. At Ise, + however, no such novelties are tolerated. The avenue of approach + generally passes under a structure called _torii_. Originally designed + as a perch for fowls which sang to the deities at daybreak, this torii + subsequently came to be erroneously regarded as a gateway + characteristic of the Shinto shrine. It consists of two thick trunks + placed upright, their upper ends mortised into a horizontal log which + projects beyond them at either side. The structure derives some grace + from its extreme simplicity. + +_Textile Fabrics and Embroidery._--In no branch of applied art does the +decorative genius of Japan show more attractive results than in that of +textile fabrics, and in none has there been more conspicuous progress +during recent years. Her woven and embroidered stuffs have always been +beautiful; but in former times few pieces of size and splendour were +produced, if we except the curtains used for draping festival cars and +the hangings of temples. Tapestry, as it is employed in Europe, was not +thought of, nor indeed could the small hand-looms of the period be +easily adapted to such work. All that has been changed, however. Arras +of large dimensions, showing remarkable workmanship and grand +combinations of colours, is now manufactured in Kioto, the product of +years of patient toil on the part of weaver and designer alike. +Kawashima of Kioto has acquired high reputation for work of this kind. +He inaugurated the new departure a few years ago by copying a Gobelin, +but it may safely be asserted that no Gobelin will bear comparison with +the pieces now produced in Japan. + + The most approved fashion of weaving is called _tsuzure-ori_ + (linked-weaving); that is to say, the cross threads are laid in with + the fingers and pushed into their places with a comb by hand, very + little machinery being used. The threads extend only to the outlines + of each figure, and it follows that every part of the pattern has a + rim of minute holes like pierced lines separating postage stamps in a + sheet, the effect being that the design seems to hang suspended in the + ground--linked into it, as the Japanese term implies.[3] A specimen of + this nature recently manufactured by Kawashima's weavers measured 20 + ft. by 13, and represented the annual festival at the Nikko mausolea. + The chief shrine was shown, as were also the gate and the long flight + of stone steps leading up to it, several other buildings, the groves + of cryptomeria that surround the mausolea, and the festival + procession. All the architectural and decorative details, all the + carvings and colours, all the accessories--everything was wrought in + silk, and each of the 1500 figures forming the procession wore exactly + appropriate costume. Even this wealth of detail, remarkable as it was, + seemed less surprising than the fact that the weaver had succeeded in + producing the effect of atmosphere and aerial perspective. Through the + graceful cryptomerias distant mountains and the still more distant sky + could be seen, and between the buildings in the foreground and those + in the middle distance atmosphere appeared to be perceptible. Two + years of incessant labour with relays of artisans working steadily + throughout the twenty-four hours were required to finish this piece. + Naturally such specimens are not produced in large numbers. Next in + decorative importance to tsuzure-ori stands _yuzen birôdo_, commonly + known among English-speaking people as cut velvet. Dyeing by the + _yuzen_ process is an innovation of modern times. The design is + painted on the fabric, after which the latter is steamed, and the + picture is ultimately fixed by methods which are kept secret. The soft + silk known as _habutaye_ is a favourite ground for such work, but silk + crape also is largely employed. No other method permits the decorator + to achieve such fidelity and such boldness of draughtsmanship. The + difference between the results of the ordinary and the yuzen processes + of dyeing is, in fact, the difference between a stencilled sketch and + a finished picture. In the case of cut velvet, the yuzen process is + supplemented as follows: The cutter, who works at an ordinary wooden + bench, has no tool except a small sharp chisel with a V-shaped point. + This chisel is passed into an iron pencil having at the end guards, + between which the point of the chisel projects, so that it is + impossible for the user to cut beyond a certain depth. When the velvet + comes to him, it already carries a coloured picture permanently fixed + by the yuzen process, but the wires have not been withdrawn. It is, in + fact, velvet that has passed through all the usual stages of + manufacture except the cutting of the thread along each wire and the + withdrawal of the wires. The cutting artist lays the piece of + unfinished velvet on his bench, and proceeds to carve into the pattern + with his chisel, just as though he were shading the lines of the + design with a steel pencil. When the pattern is lightly traced, he + uses his knife delicately; when the lines are strong and the shadows + heavy, he makes the point pierce deeply. In short, the little chisel + becomes in his fingers a painter's brush, and when it is remembered + that, the basis upon which he works being simply a thread of silk, his + hand must be trained to such delicacy of muscular effort as to be + capable of arresting the edge of the knife at varying depths within + the diameter of the tiny filament, the difficulty of the achievement + will be understood. Of course it is to be noted that the edge of the + cutting tool is never allowed to trespass upon a line which the + exigencies of the design require to be solid. The veining of a cherry + petal, for example, the tessellation of a carp's scales, the serration + of a leaf's edge--all these lines remain intact, spared by the + cutter's tool, while the leaf itself, or the petal, or the scales of + the fish, have the threads forming them cut so as to show the velvet + nap and to appear in soft, low relief. In one variety of this fabric, + a slip of gold foil is laid under each wire, and left in position + after the wire is withdrawn, the cutting tool being then used with + freedom in some parts of the design, so that the gold gleams through + the severed thread, producing a rich and suggestive effect. Velvet, + however, is not capable of being made the basis for pictures so + elaborate and microscopically accurate as those produced by the yuzen + process on silk crape or habutaye. The rich-toned, soft plumage of + birds or the magnificent blending of colours in a bunch of peonies or + chrysanthemums cannot be obtained with absolute fidelity on the ribbed + surface of velvet. + + + Embroidery. + +The embroiderer's craft has been followed for centuries in Japan with +eminent success, but whereas it formerly ranked with dyeing and weaving, +it has now come to be regarded as an art. Formerly the embroiderer was +content to produce a pattern with his needle, now he paints a picture. So +perfectly does the modern Japanese embroiderer elaborate his scheme of +values that all the essential elements of pictorial effects--chiaroscuro, +aerial perspective and atmosphere are present in his work. Thus a +graceful and realistic school has replaced the comparatively stiff and +conventional style of former times. + + Further, an improvement of a technical character was recently made, + which has the effect of adding greatly to the durability of these + embroideries. Owing to the use of paper among the threads of the + embroidery and sizing in the preparation of the stuff forming the + ground, every operation of folding used to cause perceptible injury to + a piece, so that after a few years it acquired a crumpled and dingy + appearance. But by the new method embroiderers now succeed in + producing fabrics which defy all destructive influences--except, of + course, dirt and decay. + + + Early Period. + +_Ceramics._--All research proves that up to the 12th century of the +Christian era the ceramic ware produced in Japan was of a very rude +character. The interest attaching to it is historical rather than +technical. Pottery was certainly manufactured from an early date, and +there is evidence that kilns existed in some fifteen provinces in the +10th century. But although the use of the potter's wheel had long been +understood, the objects produced were simple utensils to contain +offerings of rice, fruit and fish at the austere ceremonials of the +Shinto faith, jars for storing seeds, and vessels for common domestic +use. In the 13th century, however, the introduction of tea from China, +together with vessels for infusing and serving it, revealed to the +Japanese a new conception of ceramic possibilities, for the potters of +the Middle Kingdom had then (Sung dynasty) fully entered the road which +was destined to carry them ultimately to a high pinnacle of their craft. +It had long been customary in Japan to send students to China for the +purpose of studying philosophy and religion, and she now (1223) sent a +potter, Kato Shirozaemon, who, on his return, opened a kiln at Seto in +the province of Owari, and began to produce little jars for preserving +tea and cups for drinking it. These were conspicuously superior to +anything previously manufactured. Kato is regarded as the father of +Japanese ceramics. But the ware produced by him and his successors at +the Seto kilns, or by their contemporaries in other parts of the +country, had no valid claim to decorative excellence. Nearly three +centuries elapsed before a radically upward movement took place, and on +this occasion also the inspiration came from China. In 1520 a potter +named Gorodayu Goshonzui (known to posterity as Shonzui) made his way to +Fuchow and thence to King-te-chen, where, after five years' study, he +acquired the art of manufacturing porcelain, as distinguished from +pottery, together with the art of applying decoration in blue under the +glaze. He established his kiln at Arita in Hizen, and the event marked +the opening of the second epoch of Japanese ceramics. Yet the new +departure then made did not lead far. The existence of porcelain clay in +Hizen was not discovered for many years, and Shonzui's pieces being made +entirely with kaolin imported from China, their manufacture ceased after +his death, though knowledge of the processes learned by him survived and +was used in the production of greatly inferior wares. The third clearly +differentiated epoch was inaugurated by the discovery of true kaolin at +Izumi-yama in Hizen, the discoverer being one of the Korean potters who +came to Japan in the train of Hideyoshi's generals returning from the +invasion of Korea, and the date of the discovery being about 1605. Thus +much premised, it becomes possible to speak in detail of the various +wares for which Japan became famous. + +The principal kinds of ware are Hizen, Kioto, Satsuma, Kutani, Owari, +Bizen, Takatori, Banko, Izumo and Yatsushiro. + + + Hizen. + + There are three chief varieties of Hizen ware, namely, (1) the + enamelled porcelain of Arita--the "old Japan" of European collectors; + (2) the enamelled porcelain of Nabeshima; and (3) the blue and white, + or plain white, porcelain of Hirado. The earliest manufacture of + porcelain--as distinguished from pottery--began in the opening years + of the 16th century, but its materials were exotic. Genuine Japanese + porcelain dates from about a century later. The decoration was + confined to blue under the glaze, and as an object of art the ware + possessed no special merit. Not until the year 1620 do we find any + evidence of the style for which Arita porcelain afterwards became + famous, namely, decoration with vitrifiable enamels. The first efforts + in this direction were comparatively crude; but before the middle of + the 17th century, two experts--Goroshichi and Kakiemon--carried the + art to a point of considerable excellence. From that time forward the + Arita factories turned out large quantities of porcelain profusely + decorated with blue under the glaze and coloured enamels over it. Many + pieces were exported by the Dutch, and some also were specially + manufactured to their order. Specimens of the latter are still + preserved in European collections, where they are classed as genuine + examples of Japanese ceramic art, though beyond question their style + of decoration was greatly influenced by Dutch interference. The + porcelains of Arita were carried to the neighbouring town of Imari for + sale and shipment. Hence the ware came to be known to Japanese and + foreigners alike as _Imari-yaki_ (_yaki_ = anything baked; hence + ware). + + + Nabeshima. + + The Nabeshima porcelain--so called because of its production at + private factories under the special patronage of Nabeshima Naoshige, + feudal chief of Hizen--was produced at Okawachiyama. It differed from + Imari-yaki in the milky whiteness and softness of its glaze, the + comparative sparseness of its enamelled decoration, and the relegation + of blue _sous couverte_ to an entirely secondary place. This is + undoubtedly the finest jewelled porcelain in Japan; the best examples + leave nothing to be desired. The factory's period of excellence began + about the year 1680, and culminated at the close of the 18th century. + + + Hirado. + + The Hirado porcelain--so called because it enjoyed the special + patronage of Matsuura, feudal chief of Hirado--was produced at + Mikawa-uchi-yama, but did not attain excellence until the middle of + the 18th century, from which time until about 1830 specimens of rare + beauty were produced. They were decorated with blue under the glaze, + but some were pure white with exquisitely chiselled designs incised or + in relief. The production was always scanty, and, owing to official + prohibitions, the ware did not find its way into the general market. + + + Kioto. + + The history of Kioto ware--which, being for the most part faience, + belongs to an entirely different category from the Hizen porcelains + spoken of above--is the history of individual ceramists rather than of + special manufactures. Speaking broadly, however, four different + varieties are usually distinguished. They are _raku-yaki_, + _awata-yaki_, _iwakura-yaki_ and _kiyomizu-yaki_. + + + Raku. + + Raku-yaki is essentially the domestic faience of Japan; for, being + entirely hand-made and fired at a very low temperature, its + manufacture offers few difficulties, and has consequently been carried + on by amateurs in their own homes at various places throughout the + country. The raku-yaki of Kioto is the parent of all the rest. It was + first produced by a Korean who emigrated to Japan in the early part of + the 16th century. But the term _raku-yaki_ did not come into use until + the close of the century, when Chojiro (artistic name, Choryu) + received from Hideyoshi (the Taiko) a seal bearing the ideograph + _raku_, with which he thenceforth stamped his productions. Thirteen + generations of the same family carried on the work, each using a stamp + with the same ideograph, its calligraphy, however, differing + sufficiently to be identified by connoisseurs. The faience is thick + and clumsy, having soft, brittle and very light _pâte_. The staple + type has black glaze showing little lustre, and in choice varieties + this is curiously speckled and pitted with red. Salmon-coloured, red, + yellow and white glazes are also found, and in late specimens gilding + was added. The raku faience owed much of its popularity to the + patronage of the tea clubs. The nature of its paste and glaze adapted + it for the infusion of powdered tea, and its homely character suited + the austere canons of the tea ceremonies. + + + Awata. + + Awata-yaki is the best known among the ceramic productions of Kioto. + There is evidence to show that the art of decoration with enamels over + the glaze reached Kioto from Hizen in the middle of the 17th century. + Just at that time there flourished in the Western capital a potter of + remarkable ability, called Nomura Seisuke. He immediately utilized the + new method, and produced many beautiful examples of jewelled faience, + having close, hard _pâte_, yellowish-white, or brownish-white, glaze + covered with a network of fine crackle, and sparse decoration in pure + full-bodied colours--red, green, gold and silver. He worked chiefly at + Awata, and thus brought that factory into prominence. Nomura Seisuke, + or Ninsei as he is commonly called, was one of Japan's greatest + ceramists. Genuine examples of his faience have always been highly + prized, and numerous imitations were subsequently produced, all + stamped with the ideograph Ninsei. After Ninsei's time, the most + renowned ceramists of the Awata factories were Kenzan (1688-1740); + Ebisei, a contemporary of Kenzan; Dohachi (1751-1763), who + subsequently moved to Kiyomizu-zaka, another part of Kioto, the + faience of which constitutes the Kiyomizu-yaki mentioned above; + Kinkozan (1745-1760); Hozan (1690-1721); Taizan (1760-1800); Bizan + (1810-1838); and Tanzan, who was still living in 1909. It must be + noted that several of these names, as Kenzan, Dohachi, Kinkozan, Hozan + and Taizan, were not limited to one artist. They are family names, and + though the dates we have given indicate the eras of the most noted + ceramists in each family, amateurs must not draw any chronological + conclusion from the mere fact that a specimen bears such and such a + name. + + + Iwakura. + + The origin of the Iwakura-yaki is somewhat obscure, and its history, + at an early date, becomes confused with that of the Awata yaki, from + which, indeed, it does not materially differ. + + + Kiyomizu. + + In the term Kiyomizu-yaki may be included roughly all the faience of + Kioto, with the exception of the three varieties described above. The + distinction between Kiyomizu, Awata and Iwakura is primarily local. + They are parts of the same city, and if their names have been used to + designate particular classes of pottery, it is not because the + technical or decorative features of each class distinguish it from the + other two, but chiefly for the purpose of identifying the place of + production. On the slopes called Kiyomizu-zaka and Gojo-zaka lived a + number of ceramists, all following virtually the same models with + variations due to individual genius. The principal Kiyomizu artists + were: Ebisei, who moved from Awata to Gojo-zaka in 1688; Eisen and + Rokubei, pupils of Ebisei; Mokubei, a pupil of Eisen, but more + celebrated than his master; Shuhei (1790-1810), Kentei (1782-1820), + and Zengoro Hozen, generally known as Eiraku (1790-1850). Eisen was + the first to manufacture porcelain (as distinguished from faience) in + Kioto, and this branch of the art was carried to a high standard of + excellence by Eiraku, whose speciality was a rich coral-red glaze with + finely executed decoration in gold. The latter ceramist excelled also + in the production of purple, green and yellow glazes, which he + combined with admirable skill and taste. Some choice ware of the + latter type was manufactured by him in Kishu, by order of the feudal + chief of that province. It is known as _Kaira-ku-yen-yaki_ (ware of + the Kairaku park). + + [Illustration: PLATE VIII. POTTERY AND PORCELAIN + + FIG. 23.--TEA BOWL. By Kenzan. + + FIG. 24.--TEA JAR. By Ninsei. + + FIG. 25.--FIGURE. By Kakiemon. Arita porcelain. + + FIG. 26.--LION. By Chojiro Raku. + + FIG. 27.--CENSER, WITH KOCHI GLAZE. By Eisen. + + FIG. 28.--TEA JAR. By Ninsei. + + FIG. 29.--BIZEN WARE. Samantabhadra + + FIG. 30.--CENSER. By Kenzan.] + + [Illustration: PLATE VII. LACQUER + + FIG. 18.--LID OF BOX. By Korin. + + FIG. 19.--CASE FOR HEAD OF A SKAKUJO. + + FIG. 20.--OWL ON A BRANCH. By Ritsuo. + + FIG. 21.--BOX WITH BUTTERFLIES AND FLOWERS IN GOLD (12th century). + + FIG. 22.--LACQUERED BOXES. By Kôami (1598-1651).] + + + Satsuma. + + No phrase is commoner in the mouths of Western collectors than "Old + Satsuma"; no ware is rarer in Western collections. Nine hundred and + ninety-nine pieces out of every thousand that do duty as genuine + examples of this prince of faiences are simply examples of the skill + of modern forgers. In point of fact, the production of faience + decorated with gold and coloured enamels may be said to have commenced + at the beginning of the eighth century in Satsuma. Some writers maintain + that it did actually commence then, and that nothing of the kind had + existed there previously. Setting aside, however, the strong + improbability that a style of decoration so widely practised and so + highly esteemed could have remained unknown during a century and a + half to experts working for one of the most puissant chieftains in + Japan, we have the evidence of trustworthy traditions and written + records that enamelled faience was made by the potters at + Tatsumonji--the principal factory of Satsuma-ware in early days--as + far back as the year 1676. Mitsuhisa, then feudal lord of Satsuma, was + a munificent patron of art. He summoned to his fief the painter + Tangen--a pupil of the renowned Tanyu, who died in 1674--and employed + him to paint faience or to furnish designs for the ceramists of + Tatsumonji. The ware produced under these circumstances is still known + by the name of Satsuma Tangen. But the number of specimens was small. + Destined chiefly for private use or for presents, their decoration was + delicate rather than rich, the colour chiefly employed being brown, or + reddish brown, under the glaze, and the decoration over the glaze + being sparse and chaste. Not until the close of the l8th century or + the beginning of the 19th did the more profuse fashion of enamelled + decoration come to be largely employed. It was introduced by two + potters who had visited Kioto, and there observed the ornate methods + so well illustrated in the wares of Awata and Kiyomizu. At the same + time a strong impetus was given to the production of faience at + Tadeno--then the chief factory in Satsuma--owing to the patronage of + Shimazu Tamanobu, lord of the province. To this increase in production + and to the more elaborate application of verifiable enamels may be + attributed the erroneous idea that Satsuma faience decorated with gold + and coloured enamels had its origin at the close of the 18th century. + For all the purposes of the ordinary collector it may be said to have + commenced then, and to have come to an end about 1860; but for the + purposes of the historian we must look farther back. + + The ceramic art in Satsuma owed much to the aid of a number of Korean + experts who settled there after the return of the Japanese forces from + Korea. One of these men, Boku Heii, discovered (1603) clay fitted for + the manufacture of white _craquelé_ faience. This was the subsequently + celebrated _Satsuma-yaki_. But in Boku's time, and indeed as long as + the factories flourished, many other kinds of faience were produced, + the principal having rich black or _flambé_ glazes, while a few were + green or yellow monochromes. One curious variety, called _same-yaki_, + had glaze chagrined like the skin of a shark. Most of the finest + pieces of enamelled faience were the work of artists at the Tadeno + factory, while the best specimens of other kinds were by the artists + of Tatsumonji. + + + Kutani. + + The porcelain of Kutani is among those best known to Western + collectors, though good specimens ofthe old ware have always been + scarce. Its manufacture dates from the close of the 17th century, when + the feudal chief of Kaga took the industry under his patronage. There + were two principal varieties of the ware: _ao-Kutani_, so called + because of a green (_ao_) enamel of great brilliancy and beauty which + was largely used in its decoration, and Kutani with painted and + enamelled _pâte_ varying from hard porcelain to pottery. Many of the + pieces are distinguished by a peculiar creamy whiteness of glaze, + suggesting the idea that they were intended to imitate the soft-paste + wares of China. The enamels are used to delineate decorative subjects + and are applied in masses, the principal colours being green, yellow + and soft Prussian blue, all brilliant and transparent, with the + exception of the last which is nearly opaque. In many cases we find + large portions of the surface completely covered with green or yellow + enamel overlying black diapers or scroll patterns. The second variety + of Kutani ware may often be mistaken for "old Japan" (i.e. Imari + porcelain). The most characteristic examples of it are + distinguishable, however, by the preponderating presence of a peculiar + russet red, differing essentially from the full-bodied and + comparatively brilliant colour of the Arita pottery. Moreover, the + workmen of Kaga did not follow the Arita precedent of massing blue + under the glaze. In the great majority of cases they did not use blue + at all in this position, and when they did, its place was essentially + subordinate. They also employed silver freely for decorative purposes, + whereas we rarely find it thus used on "old Japan" porcelain. + + About the time (1843) of the ao-Kutani revival, a potter called lida + Hachiroemon introduced a style of decoration which subsequently came + to be regarded as typical of all Kaga procelains. Taking the Eiraku + porcelains of Kioto as models, Hachiroemon employed red grounds with + designs traced on them in gold. The style was not absolutely new in + Kaga. We find similar decoration on old and choice examples of + Kutani-yaki. But the character of the old red differs essentially from + that of the modern manufacture--the former being a soft, subdued + colour, more like a bloom than an enamel; the latter a glossy and + comparatively crude pigment. In Hachiroemon's time and during the + twenty years following the date of his innovation, many beautiful + examples of elaborately decorated Kutani porcelain were produced. The + richness, profusion and microscopic accuracy of their decoration could + scarcely have been surpassed; but, with very rare exceptions, their + lack of delicacy of technique disqualifies them to rank as fine + porcelains. + + + Owari. + + It was at the little village of Seto, some five miles from Nagoya, the + chief town of the province of Owari, or Bishu, that the celebrated + Kato Shirozaemon made the first Japanese faience worthy to be + considered a technical success. Shirozaemon produced dainty little + tea-jars, ewers and other _cha-no-yu_ utensils. These, being no longer + stoved in an inverted position, as had been the habit before + Shirozaemon's time, were not disfigured by the bare, blistered lips of + their predecessors. Their _pâte_ was close and well-manufactured + pottery, varying in colour from dark brown to russet, and covered with + thick, lustrous glazes--black, amber-brown, chocolate and yellowish + grey. These glazes were not monochromatic: they showed differences of + tint, and sometimes marked varieties of colour; as when + chocolate-brown passed into amber, or black was relieved by streaks + and clouds of grey and dead-leaf red. This ware came to be known as + _Toshiro-yaki_, a term obtained by combining the second syllable of + Kato with the two first of Shirozaemon. A genuine example of it is at + present worth many times its weight in gold to Japanese dilettanti, + though in foreign eyes it is little more than interesting. Shirozaemon + was succeeded at the kiln by three generations of his family, each + representative retaining the name of Toshiro, and each distinguishing + himself by the excellence of his work. Thenceforth Seto became the + headquarters of the manufacture of _cha-no-yu_ utensils, and many of + the tiny pieces turned out there deserve high admiration, their + technique being perfect, and their mahogany, russet-brown, amber and + buff glazes showing wonderful lustre and richness. Seto, in fact, + acquired such a widespread reputation for its ceramic productions that + the term _seto-mono_ (Seto article) came to be used generally for all + pottery and porcelain, just as "China" is in the West. Seto has now + ceased to be a pottery-producing centre, and has become the chief + porcelain manufactory of Japan. The porcelain industry was inaugurated + in 1807 by Tamikichi, a local ceramist, who had visited Hizen and + spent three years there studying the necessary processes. Owari + abounds in porcelain stone; but it does not occur in constant or + particularly simple forms, and as the potters have not yet learned to + treat their materials scientifically, their work is often marred by + unforeseen difficulties. For many years after Tamikichi's processes + had begun to be practised, the only decoration employed was blue under + the glaze. Sometimes Chinese cobalt was used, sometimes Japanese, and + sometimes a mixture of both. To Kawamoto Hansuke, who flourished about + 1830-1845, belongs the credit of having turned out the richest and + most attractive ware of this class. But, speaking generally, Japanese + blues do not rank on the same decorative level with those of China. At + Arita, although pieces were occasionally turned out of which the + colour could not be surpassed in purity and brilliancy, the general + character of the blue _sous couverte_ was either thin or dull. At + Hirado the ceramists affected a lighter and more delicate tone than + that of the Chinese, and, in order to obtain it, subjected the choice + pigment of the Middle Kingdom to refining processes of great severity. + The Hirado blue, therefore, belongs to a special aesthetic category. + But at Owari the experts were content with an inferior colour, and + their blue-and-white porcelains never enjoyed a distinguished + reputation, though occasionally we find a specimen of great merit. + + Decoration with vitrifiable enamels over the glaze, though it began to + be practised at Owari about the year 1840, never became a speciality + of the place. Nowadays, indeed, numerous examples of porcelains + decorated in this manner are classed among Owari products. But they + receive their decoration, almost without exception, in Tokyo or + Yokohama, where a large number of artists, called _e-tsuke-shi_, + devote themselves entirely to porcelain-painting. These men seldom use + vitrifiable enamels, pigments being much more tractable and less + costly. The dominant feature of the designs is pictorial. They are + frankly adapted to Western taste. Indeed, of this porcelain it may be + said that, from the monster pieces of blue-and-white manufactured at + Seto--vases six feet high and garden pillar-lamps half as tall again + do not dismay the Bishu ceramist--to tiny coffee-cups decorated in + Tokyo, with their delicate miniatures of birds, flowers, insects, + fishes and so forth, everything indicates the death of the old severe + aestheticism. To such a depth of debasement had the ceramic art fallen + in Owari, that before the happy renaissance of the past ten years, + Nagoya discredited itself by employing porcelain as a base for + cloisonné enamelling. Many products of this vitiated industry have + found their way into the collections of foreigners. + + + Bizen. + + Pottery was produced at several hamlets in Bizen as far back as the + 14th century, but ware worthy of artistic notice did not make its + appearance until the close of the 16th century, when the Taiko himself + paid a visit to the factory at Imbe. Thenceforth utensils for the use + of the tea clubs began to be manufactured. This _Bizen-yaki_ was red + stoneware, with thin diaphanous glaze. Made of exceedingly refractory + clay, it underwent stoving for more than three weeks, and was + consequently remarkable for its hardness and metallic timbre. Some + fifty years later, the character of the choicest Bizen-yaki underwent + a marked change. It became slate-coloured or bluish-brown faience, + with _pâte_ as fine as pipe-clay, but very hard. In the _ao-Bizen_ + (blue Bizen), as well as in the red variety, figures of mythical + beings and animals, birds, fishes and other natural objects, were + modelled with a degree of plastic ability that can scarcely be spoken + of in too high terms. Representative specimens are truly + admirable--every line, every contour faithful. The production was very + limited, and good pieces soon ceased to be procurable except at long + intervals and heavy expense. The Bizen-yaki familiar to Western + collectors is comparatively coarse brown or reddish brown, stoneware, + modelled rudely, though sometimes redeemed by touches of the genius + never entirely absent from the work of the Japanese artisan-artist. + Easy to be confounded with it is another ware of the same type + manufactured at Shidoro in the province of Totomi. + + + Takatori. + + The Japanese potters could never vie with the Chinese in the + production of glazes: the wonderful monochromes and polychromes of the + Middle Kingdom had no peers anywhere. In Japan they were most closely + approached by the faience of Takatori in the province of Chikuzen. In + its early days the ceramic industry of this province owed something to + the assistance of Korean experts who settled there after the + expedition of 1592. But its chief development took place under the + direction of Igarashi Jizaemon, an amateur ceramist, who, happening to + visit Chikuzen about 1620, was taken under the protection of the chief + of the fief and munificently treated. Taking the renowned + _yao-pien-yao_, or "transmutation ware" of China as a model, the + Takatori potters endeavoured, by skilful mixing of colouring + materials, to reproduce the wonderful effects of oxidization seen in + the Chinese ware. They did not, indeed, achieve their ideal, but they + did succeed in producing some exquisitely lustrous glazes of the + _flambé_ type, rich transparent brown passing into claret colour, with + flecks or streaks of white and clouds of "iron dust." The _pâte_ of + this faience was of the finest description, and the technique in every + respect faultless. Unfortunately, the best experts confined themselves + to working for the tea clubs, and consequently produced only + insignificant pieces, as tea-jars, cups and little ewers. During the + 18th century, a departure was made from these strict canons. From this + period date most of the specimens best known outside Japan--cleverly + modelled figures of mythological beings and animals covered with + lustrous variegated glazes, the general colours being grey or buff, + with tints of green, chocolate, brown and sometimes blue. + + + Awaji. + + A ware of which considerable quantities have found their way westward + of late years in the _Awaji-yaki_, so called from the island of Awaji + where it is manufactured in the village of Iga. It was first produced + between the years 1830 and 1840 by one Kaju Mimpei, a man of + considerable private means who devoted himself to the ceramic art out + of pure enthusiasm. His story is full of interest, but it must suffice + here to note the results of his enterprise. Directing his efforts at + first to reproducing the deep green and straw-yellow glazes of China, + he had exhausted almost his entire resources before success came, and + even then the public was slow to recognize the merits of his ware. + Nevertheless he persevered, and in 1838 we find him producing not only + green and yellow monochromes, but also greyish white and mirror-black + glazes of high excellence. So thoroughly had he now mastered the + management of glazes that he could combine yellow, green, white and + claret colour in regular patches to imitate tortoise-shell. Many of + his pieces have designs incised or in relief, and others are skilfully + decorated with gold and silver. Awaji-yaki, or _Mimpei-yaki_ as it is + often called, is generally porcelain, but we occasionally find + specimens which may readily be mistaken for Awata faience. + + + Banko. + + Banko faience is a universal favourite with foreign collectors. The + type generally known to them is exceedingly light ware, for the most + part made of light grey, unglazed clay, and having hand-modelled + decoration in relief. But there are numerous varieties. Chocolate or + dove-coloured grounds with delicate diapers in gold and _engobe_; + brown or black faience with white, yellow and pink designs incised or + in relief; pottery curiously and deftly marbled by combinations of + various coloured clays--these and many other kinds are to be found, + all, however, presenting one common feature, namely, skilful + finger-moulding and a slight roughening of the surface as though it + had received the impression of coarse linen or crape before baking. + This modern _banko-yaki_ is produced chiefly at Yokkaichi in the + province of Ise. It is entirely different from the original banko-ware + made in Kuwana, in the same province, by Numanami Gozaemon at the + close of the 18th century. Gozaemon was an imitator. He took for his + models the raku faience of Kioto, the masterpieces of Ninsei and + Kenzan, the rococo wares of Korea, the enamelled porcelain of China, + and the blue-and-white ware of Delft. He did not found a school, + simply because he had nothing new to teach, and the fact that a modern + ware goes by the same name as his productions is simply because his + seal--the inscription on which (_banko_, everlasting) suggested the + name of the ware--subsequently (1830) fell into the hands of one Mori + Yusetsu, who applied it to his own ware. Mori Yusetsu, however, had + more originality than Numanami. He conceived the idea of shaping his + pieces by putting the mould inside and pressing the clay with the hand + into the matrix. The consequence was that his wares received the + design on the inner as well as the outer surface, and were moreover + thumb-marked--essential characteristics of the banko-yaki now so + popular. + + + Izumo. + + Among a multitude of other Japanese wares, space allows us to mention + only two, those of Izumo and Yatsushiro. The chief of the former is + faience, having light grey, close _pâte_ and yellow or straw-coloured + glaze, with or without crackle, to which is applied decoration in + gold and green enamel. Another variety has chocolate glaze, clouded + with amber and flecked with gold dust. The former faience had its + origin at the close of the 17th century, the latter at the close of + the 18th; but the _Izumo-yaki_ now procurable is a modern production. + + + Yatsushiro. + + The Yatsushiro faience is a production of the province of Higo, where + a number of Korean potters settled at the close of the 17th century. + It is the only Japanese ware in which the characteristics of a Korean + original are unmistakably preserved. Its diaphanous, pearl-grey glaze, + uniform, lustrous and finely crackled, overlying encaustic decoration + in white slip, the fineness of its warm reddish _pâte_, and the + general excellence of its technique, have always commanded admiration. + It is produced now in considerable quantities, but the modern ware + falls far short of its predecessor. + +Many examples of the above varieties deserve the enthusiastic admiration +they have received, yet they unquestionably belong to a lower rank of +ceramic achievements than the choice productions of Chinese kilns. The +potters of the Middle Kingdom, from the early eras of the Ming dynasty +down to the latest years of the 18th century, stood absolutely without +rivals as makers of porcelain. Their technical ability was +incomparable--though in grace of decorative conception they yielded the +palm to the Japanese--and the representative specimens they bequeathed +to posterity remained, until quite recently, far beyond the imitative +capacity of European or Asiatic experts. As for faience and pottery, +however, the Chinese despised them in all forms, with one notable +exception, the _yi-hsing-yao_, known in the Occident as _boccaro_. Even +the _yi-hsing-yao_, too, owed much of its popularity to special utility. +It was essentially the ware of the tea-drinker. If in the best specimens +exquisite modelling, wonderful accuracy of finish and _pâtes_ of +interesting tints are found, such pieces are, none the less, stamped +prominently with the character of utensils rather than with that of +works of art. In short, the artistic output of Chinese kilns in their +palmiest days was, not faience or pottery, but porcelain, whether of +soft or hard paste. Japan, on the contrary, owes her ceramic distinction +in the main to her faience. A great deal has been said by enthusiastic +writers about the _famille chrysanthemo-péonienne_ of Imari and the +_genre Kakiemon_ of Nabeshima, but these porcelains, beautiful as they +undoubtedly are, cannot be placed on the same level with the _kwan-yao_ +and _famille rose_ of the Chinese experts. The Imari ware, even though +its thick biscuit and generally ungraceful shapes be omitted from the +account, shows no enamels that can rival the exquisitely soft, broken +tints of the _famille rose_; and the _Kakiemon_ porcelain, for all its +rich though chaste contrasts, lacks the delicate transmitted tints of +the shell-like _kwan-yao_. So, too, the blue-and-white porcelain of +Hirado, though assisted by exceptional tenderness of sous-pâte colour, +by milk-white glaze, by great beauty of decorative design, and often by +an admirable use of the modelling or graving tool, represents a ceramic +achievement palpably below the soft paste _kai-pien-yao_ of +King-te-chen. It is a curious and interesting fact that this last +product of Chinese skill remained unknown in Japan down to very recent +days. In the eyes of a Chinese connoisseur, no blue-and-white porcelain +worthy of consideration exists, or ever has existed, except the +_kai-pien-yao_, with its imponderable _pâte_, its wax-like surface, and +its rich, glowing blue, entirely free from superficiality or garishness +and broken into a thousand tints by the microscopic crackle of the +glaze. The Japanese, although they obtained from their neighbour almost +everything of value she had to give them, did not know this wonderful +ware, and their ignorance is in itself sufficient to prove their ceramic +inferiority. There remains, too, a wide domain in which the Chinese +developed high skill, whereas the Japanese can scarcely be said to have +entered it at all; namely, the domain of monochromes and polychromes, +striking every note of colour from the richest to the most delicate; the +domain of _truité_ and _flambé_ glazes, of _yo-pien-yao_ (transmutation +ware), and of egg-shell with incised or translucid decoration. In all +that region of achievement the Chinese potters stood alone and seemingly +unapproachable. The Japanese, on the contrary, made a specialty of +faience, and in that particular line they reached a high standard of +excellence. No faience produced either in China or any other Oriental +country can dispute the palm with really representative specimens of +Satsuma ware. Not without full reason have Western connoisseurs lavished +panegyrics upon that exquisite production. The faience of the Kioto +artists never reached quite to the level of the Satsuma in quality of +_pâte_ and glowing mellowness of decoration; their materials were +slightly inferior. But their skill as decorators was as great as its +range was wide, and they produced a multitude of masterpieces on which +alone Japan's ceramic fame might safely be rested. + + + Change of Style after the Restoration. + +When the mediatization of the fiefs, in 1871, terminated the local +patronage hitherto extended so munificently to artists, the Japanese +ceramists gradually learned that they must thenceforth depend chiefly +upon the markets of Europe and America. They had to appeal, in short, to +an entirely new public, and how to secure its approval was to them a +perplexing problem. Having little to guide them, they often interpreted +Western taste incorrectly, and impaired their own reputation in a +corresponding degree. Thus, in the early years of the Meiji era, there +was a period of complete prostitution. No new skill was developed, and +what remained of the old was expended chiefly upon the manufacture of +meretricious objects, disfigured by excess of decoration and not +relieved by any excellence of technique. In spite of their artistic +defects, these specimens were exported in considerable numbers by +merchants in the foreign settlements, and their first cost being very +low, they found a not unremunerative market. But as European and +American collectors became better acquainted with the capacities of the +pre-Meiji potters, the great inferiority of these new specimens was +recognized, and the prices commanded by the old wares gradually +appreciated. What then happened was very natural: imitations of the old +wares were produced, and having been sufficiently disfigured by staining +and other processes calculated to lend an air of rust and age, they were +sold to ignorant persons, who laboured under the singular yet common +hallucination that the points to be looked for in specimens from early +kilns were, not technical excellence, decorative tastefulness and +richness of colour, but dinginess, imperfections and dirt; persons who +imagined, in short, that defects which they would condemn at once in new +porcelains ought to be regarded as merits in old. Of course a trade of +that kind, based on deception, could not have permanent success. One of +the imitators of "old Satsuma" was among the first to perceive that a +new line must be struck out. Yet the earliest results of his awakened +perception helped to demonstrate still further the depraved spirit that +had come over Japanese art. For he applied himself to manufacture wares +having a close affinity with the shocking monstrosities used for +sepulchral purposes in ancient Apulia, where fragments of dissected +satyrs, busts of nymphs or halves of horses were considered graceful +excrescences for the adornment of an amphora or a pithos. This _Makuzu_ +faience, produced by the now justly celebrated Miyagawa Shozan of Ota +(near Yokohama), survives in the form of vases and pots having birds, +reptiles, flowers, crustacea and so forth plastered over the +surface--specimens that disgrace the period of their manufacture, and +represent probably the worst aberration of Japanese ceramic conception. + + + Adoption of Chinese Models. + +A production so degraded as the early Makuzu faience could not possibly +have a lengthy vogue. Miyagawa soon began to cast about for a better +inspiration, and found it in the monochromes and polychromes of the +Chinese _Kang-hsi_ and _Yung-cheng kilns_. The extraordinary value +attaching to the incomparable red glazes of China, not only in the +country of their origin but also in the United States, where collectors +showed a fine instinct in this matter, seems to have suggested to +Miyagawa the idea of imitation. He took for model the rich and delicate +"liquid-dawn" monochrome, and succeeded in producing some specimens of +considerable merit. Thenceforth his example was largely followed, and it +may now be said that the tendency of many of the best Japanese ceramists +is to copy Chinese _chefs-d'oeuvre_. To find them thus renewing their +reputation by reverting to Chinese models, is not only another tribute +to the perennial supremacy of Chinese porcelains, but also a fresh +illustration of the eclectic genius of Japanese art. All the products of +this new effort are porcelains proper. Seven kilns are devoted, wholly +or in part, to the new wares: belonging to Miyagawa Shozan of Ota, Seifu +Yohei of Kioto, Takemoto Hayata and Kato Tomojiro of Tokyo, Higuchi +Haruzane of Hirado, Shida Yasukyo of Kaga and Kato Masukichi of Seto. + + + Seifu of Kioto. + + Among the seven ceramists here enumerated, Seifu of Kioto probably + enjoys the highest reputation. If we except the ware of Satsuma, it + may be said that nearly all the fine faience of Japan was manufactured + formerly in Kioto. Nomura Ninsei, in the middle of the 17th century, + inaugurated a long era of beautiful productions with his cream-like + "fish-roe" _craquelé_ glazes, carrying rich decoration of clear and + brilliant vitrifiable enamels. It was he who gave their first really + artistic impulse to the kilns of Awata, Mizoro and Iwakura, whence so + many delightful specimens of faience issued almost without + interruption until the middle of the 19th century and continue to + issue to-day. The three Kenzan, of whom the third died in 1820; + Ebisei; the four Dohachi, of whom the fourth was still alive in 1909; + the Kagiya family, manufacturers of the celebrated Kinkozan ware; + Hozan, whose imitations of Delft faience and his _pâte-sur-pâte_ + pieces with fern-scroll decoration remain incomparable; Taizan Yohei, + whose ninth descendant of the same name now produces fine specimens of + Awata ware for foreign markets; Tanzan Yoshitaro and his son Rokuro, + to whose credit stands a new departure in the form of faience having + _pâte-sur-pâte_ decoration of lace patterns, diapers and archaic + designs executed in low relief with admirable skill and minuteness; + the two Bizan, renowned for their representations of richly apparelled + figures as decorative motives; Rokubei, who studied painting under + Maruyama Okyo and followed the naturalistic style of that great + artist; Mokubei, the first really expert manufacturer of translucid + porcelain in Kioto; Shuhei, Kintei, and above all, Zengoro Hozen, the + celebrated potter of Eiraku wares--these names and many others give to + Kioto ceramics an eminence as well as an individuality which few other + wares of Japan can boast. Nor is it to be supposed that the ancient + capital now lacks great potters. Okamura Yasutaro, commonly called + Shozan, produces specimens which only a very acute connoisseur can + distinguish from the work of Nomura Ninsei; Tanzan Rokuro's half-tint + enamels and soft creamy glazes would have stood high in any epoch; + Taizan Yohei produces Awata faience not inferior to that of former + days; Kagiya Sobei worthily supports the reputation of the Kinkozan + ware; Kawamoto Eijiro has made to the order of a well-known Kioto firm + many specimens now figuring in foreign collections as old + masterpieces; and Ito Tozan succeeds in decorating faience with seven + colours _sous couverte_ (black, green, blue, russet-red, tea-brown, + purple and peach), a feat never before accomplished. It is therefore + an error to assert that Kioto has no longer a title to be called a + great ceramic centre. Seifu Yohei, however, has the special faculty of + manufacturing monochromatic and jewelled porcelain and faience, which + differ essentially from the traditional Kioto types, their models + being taken directly from China. But a sharp distinction has to be + drawn between the method of Seifu and that of the other six ceramists + mentioned above as following Chinese fashions. It is this, that + whereas the latter produce their chromatic effects by mixing the + colouring matter with the glaze, Seifu paints the biscuit with a + pigment over which he runs a translucid colourless glaze. The Kioto + artist's process is much easier than that of his rivals, and although + his monochromes are often of most pleasing delicacy and fine tone, + they do not belong to the same category of technical excellence as the + wares they imitate. From this judgment must be excepted, however, his + ivory-white and _céladon_ wares, as well as his porcelains decorated + with blue, or blue and red _sous couverte_, and with vitrifiable + enamels over the glaze. In these five varieties he is emphatically + great. It cannot be said, indeed, that his _céladon_ shows the velvety + richness of surface and tenderness of colour that distinguished the + old _Kuang-yao_ and _Lungchuan-yao_ of China, or that he has ever + essayed the moss-edged crackle of the beautiful _Ko-yao_. But his + _céladon_ certainly equals the more modern Chinese examples from the + _Kang-hsi_ and _Yung-cheng_ kilns. As for his ivory-white, it + distinctly surpasses the Chinese Ming _Chen-yao_ in every quality + except an indescribable intimacy of glaze and _pâte_ which probably + can never be obtained by either Japanese or European methods. + + + Miyagawa Shozan. + + Miyagawa Shozan, or Makuzu, as he is generally called, has never + followed Seifu's example in descending from the difficult manipulation + of coloured glazes to the comparatively simple process of painted + biscuit. This comment does not refer to the use of blue and red _sous + couverte_. In that class of beautiful ware the application of pigment + to the unglazed _pâte_ is inevitable, and both Seifu and Miyagawa, + working on the same lines as their Chinese predecessors, produce + porcelains that almost rank with choice Kang-hsi specimens, though + they have not yet mastered the processes sufficiently to employ them + in the manufacture of large imposing pieces or wares of moderate + price. But in the matter of true monochromatic and polychromatic + glazes, to Shozan belongs the credit of having inaugurated Chinese + fashions, and if he has never fully succeeded in achieving _lang-yao_ + (sang-de-boeuf), _chi-hung_ (liquid-dawn red), _chiang-tou-hung_ + (bean-blossom red, the "peach-blow" of American collectors), or above + all _pin-kwo-tsing_ (apple-green with red bloom), his efforts to + imitate them have resulted in some very interesting pieces. + + + Tokyo Ceramists. + + Takemoto and Kato of Tokyo entered the field subsequently to Shozan, + but followed the same models approximately. Takemoto, however, has + made a speciality of black glazes, his aim being to rival the _Sung + Chien-yao_, with its glaze of mirror-black or raven's-wing green, and + its leveret fur streaking or russet-moss dappling, the prince of all + wares in the estimation of the Japanese tea-clubs. Like Shozan, he is + still very far from his original, but, also like Shozan, he produces + highly meritorious pieces in his efforts to reach an ideal that will + probably continue to elude him for ever. Of Kato there is not much to + be said. He has not succeeded in winning great distinction, but he + manufactures some very delicate monochromes, fully deserving to be + classed among prominent evidences of the new departure. Tokyo was + never a centre of ceramic production. Even during the 300 years of its + conspicuous prosperity as the administrative capital of the Tokugawa + shoguns, it had no noted factories, doubtless owing to the absence of + any suitable potter's clay in the immediate vicinity. Its only notable + production of a ceramic character was the work of Miura Kenya + (1830-1843), who followed the methods of the celebrated Haritsu + (1688-1704) of Kioto in decorating plain or lacquered wood with + mosaics of raku faience having coloured glazes. Kenya was also a + skilled modeller of figures, and his factory in the Imado suburb + obtained a considerable reputation for work of that nature. He was + succeeded by Tozawa Benshi, an old man of over seventy in 1909, who, + using clay from Owari or Hizen, has turned out many porcelain + statuettes of great beauty. But although the capital of Japan formerly + played only an insignificant part in Japanese ceramics, modern Tokyo + has an important school of artist-artisans. Every year large + quantities of porcelain and faience are sent from the provinces to the + capital to receive surface decoration, and in wealth of design as well + as carefulness of execution the results are praiseworthy. But of the + pigments employed nothing very laudatory could be said until very + recent times. They were generally crude, of impure tone, and without + depth or brilliancy. Now, however, they have lost these defects and + entered a period of considerable excellence. Figure-subjects + constitute the chief feature of the designs. A majority of the artists + are content to copy old pictures of Buddha's sixteen disciples, the + seven gods of happiness, and other similar assemblages of mythical or + historical personages, not only because such work offers large + opportunity for the use of striking colours and the production of + meretricious effects, dear to the eye of the average Western + householder and tourist, but also because a complicated design, as + compared with a simple one, has the advantage of hiding the technical + imperfections of the ware. Of late there have happily appeared some + decorators who prefer to choose their subjects from the natural field + in which their great predecessors excelled, and there is reason to + hope that this more congenial and more pleasing style will supplant + its modern usurper. The best known factory in Tokyo for decorative + purposes is the Hyochi-en. It was established in the Fukagawa suburb + in 1875, with the immediate object of preparing specimens for the + first Tokyo exhibition held at that time. Its founders obtained a + measure of official aid, and were able to secure the services of some + good artists, among whom may be mentioned Obanawa and Shimauchi. The + porcelains of Owari and Arita naturally received most attention at the + hands of the Hyochi-en decorators, but there was scarcely one of the + principal wares of Japan upon which they did not try their skill, and + if a piece of monochromatic Minton or Sèvres came in their way, they + undertook to improve it by the addition of designs copied from old + masters or suggested by modern taste. The cachet of the Fukagawa + atelier was indiscriminately applied to all such pieces, and has + probably proved a source of confusion to collectors. Many other + factories for decoration were established from time to time in Tokyo. + Of these some still exist; others, ceasing to be profitable, have been + abandoned. On the whole, the industry may now be said to have assumed + a domestic character. In a house, presenting no distinctive features + whatsoever, one finds the decorator with a cupboard full of bowls and + vases of glazed biscuit, which he adorns, piece by piece, using the + simplest conceivable apparatus and a meagre supply of pigments. + Sometimes he fixes the decoration himself, employing for that purpose + a small kiln which stands in his back garden; sometimes he entrusts + this part of the work to a factory. As in the case of everything + Japanese, there is no pretence, no useless expenditure about the + process. Yet it is plain that this school of Tokyo decorators, though + often choosing their subjects badly, have contributed much to the + progress of the ceramic art during the past few years. Little by + little there has been developed a degree of skill which compares not + unfavourably with the work of the old masters. Table services of Owari + porcelain--the ware itself excellently manipulated and of almost + egg-shell fineness--are now decorated with floral scrolls, landscapes, + insects, birds, figure-subjects and all sorts of designs, chaste, + elaborate or quaint; and these services, representing so much artistic + labour and originality, are sold for prices that bear no due ratio to + the skill required in their manufacture. + + There is only one reservation to be made in speaking of the modern + decorative industry of Japan under its better aspects. In Tokyo, + Kioto, Yokohama and Kobe--in all of which places decorating ateliers + (_etsuke-dokoro_), similar to those of Tokyo, have been established in + modern times--the artists use chiefly pigments, seldom venturing to + employ vitrifiable enamels. That the results achieved with these + different materials are not comparable is a fact which every + connoisseur must admit. The glossy surface of a porcelain glaze is ill + fitted for rendering artistic effects with ordinary colours. The + proper field for the application of these is the biscuit, in which + position the covering glaze serves at once to soften and to preserve + the pigment. It can scarcely be doubted that the true instincts of the + ceramist will ultimately counsel him to confine his decoration over + the glaze to vitrifiable enamels, with which the Chinese and Japanese + potters of former times obtained such brilliant results. But to employ + enamels successfully is an achievement demanding special training and + materials not easy to procure or to prepare. The Tokyo decorators are + not likely, therefore, to change their present methods immediately. + + An impetus was given to ceramic decoration by the efforts of a new + school, which owed its origin to Dr G. Wagener, an eminent German + expert formerly in the service of the Japanese government. Dr Wagener + conceived the idea of developing the art of decoration under the + glaze, as applied to faience. Faience thus decorated has always been + exceptional in Japan. Rare specimens were produced in Satsuma and + Kioto, the colour employed being chiefly blue, though brown and black + were used in very exceptional instances. The difficulty of obtaining + clear, rich tints was nearly prohibitive, and though success, when + achieved, seemed to justify the effort, this class of ware never + received much attention in Japan. By careful selection and preparation + of _pâte_, glaze and pigments, Dr Wagener proved not only that the + manufacture was reasonably feasible, but also that decoration thus + applied to pottery possesses unique delicacy and softness. Ware + manufactured by his direction at the Tokyo school of technique + (_shokkô gakkô_), under the name of _asahi-yaki_, ranks among the + interesting productions of modern Japan. The decorative colour chiefly + employed is chocolate brown, which harmonizes excellently with the + glaze. But the ware has never found favour in Japanese eyes, an + element of unpleasant garishness being imparted to it by the vitreous + appearance of the glaze, which is manufactured according to European + methods. The modern faience of Ito Tozan of Kioto, decorated with + colour under the glaze, is incomparably more artistic than the Tokyo + _asahi-yaki_, from which, nevertheless, the Kioto master doubtless + borrowed some ideas. The decorative industry in Tokyo owed much also + to the kosho-kaisha, an institution started by Wakai and Matsuo in + 1873, with official assistance. Owing to the intelligent patronage of + this company, and the impetus given to the ceramic trade by its + enterprise, the style of the Tokyo _etsuke_ was much improved and the + field of their industry extended. It must be acknowledged, however, + that the Tokyo artists often devote their skill to purposes of + forgery, and that their imitations, especially of old Satsuma-yaki, + are sometimes franked by dealers whose standing should forbid such + frauds. In this context it may be mentioned that, of late years, + decoration of a remarkably microscopic character has been successfully + practised in Kioto, Osaka and Kobe, its originator being Meisan of + Osaka. Before dismissing the subject of modern Tokyo ceramics, it may + be added that Kato Tomataro, mentioned above in connexion with the + manufacture of special glazes, has also been very successful in + producing porcelains decorated with blue _sous couverte_ at his + factory in the Koishikawa suburb. + + + Modern Wares of Hirado. + + Higuchi of Hirado is to be classed with ceramists of the new school on + account of one ware only, namely, porcelain having translucid + decoration, the so-called "grains of rice" of American collectors, + designated _hotaru-de_ (firefly style) in Japan. That, however, is an + achievement of no small consequence, especially since it had never + previously been essayed outside China. The Hirado expert has not yet + attained technical skill equal to that of the Chinese. He cannot, like + them, cover the greater part of a specimen's surface with a lacework + of transparent decoration, exciting wonder that _pâte_ deprived so + greatly of continuity could have been manipulated without accident. + But his artistic instincts are higher than those of the Chinese, and + there is reasonable hope that in time he may excel their best works. + In other respects the Hirado factories do not produce wares nearly so + beautiful as those manufactured there between 1759 and 1840, when the + _Hirado-yaki_ stood at the head of all Japanese porcelain on account + of its pure, close-grained _pâte_, its lustrous milk-white glaze, and + the soft clear blue of its carefully executed decoration. + + + Ware of Owari. + + The Owari potters were slow to follow the lead of Miyagawa Shozan and + Seifu Yohei. At the industrial exhibition in Kioto (1895) the first + results of their efforts were shown, attracting attention at once. In + medieval times Owari was celebrated for faience glazes of various + colours, much affected by the tea-clubs, but its staple manufacture + from the beginning of the 19th century was porcelain decorated with + blue under the glaze, the best specimens of which did not approach + their Chinese prototypes in fineness of _pâte_, purity of glaze or + richness of colour. During the first twenty-five years of the Meiji + era the Owari potters sought to compensate the technical and artistic + defects of their pieces by giving them magnificent dimensions; but at + the Tokyo industrial exhibition (1891) they were able to contribute + some specimens showing decorative, plastic and graving skill of no + mean order. Previously to that time, one of the Seto experts, Kato + Gosuke, had developed remarkable ability in the manufacture of + _céladon_, though in that field he was subsequently distanced by Seifu + of Kioto. Only lately did Owari feel the influence of the new movement + towards Chinese types. Its potters took _flambé_ glazes for models, + and their pieces possessed an air of novelty that attracted + connoisseurs. But the style was not calculated to win general + popularity, and the manufacturing processes were too easy to occupy + the attention of great potters. On a far higher level stood egg-shell + porcelain, remarkable examples of which were sent from Seto to the + Kioto industrial exhibition of 1895. Chinese potters of the Yung-lo + era (1403-1414) enriched their country with a quantity of ware to + which the name of _totai-ki_ (bodiless utensil) was given on account + of its wonderfully attenuated _pâte_. The finest specimens of this + porcelain had incised decoration, sparingly employed but adding much + to the beauty of the piece. In subsequent eras the potters of + King-te-chen did not fail to continue this remarkable manufacture, but + its only Japanese representative was a porcelain distinctly inferior + in more than one respect, namely, the egg-shell utensils of Hizen and + Hirado, some of which had finely woven basket-cases to protect their + extreme fragility. The Seto experts, however, are now making bowls, + cups and vases that rank nearly as high as the celebrated Yung-lo + totai-ki. In purity of tone and velvet-like gloss of surface there is + distinct inferiority on the side of the Japanese ware, but in thinness + of _pâte_ it supports comparison, and in profusion and beauty of + incised decoration it excels its Chinese original. + + + Ware of Kaga. + + Latest of all to acknowledge the impulse of the new departure have + been the potters of Kaga. For many years their ware enjoyed the + credit, or discredit, of being the most lavishly decorated porcelain + in Japan. It is known to Western collectors as a product blazing with + red and gold, a very degenerate offspring of the Chinese Ming type, + which Hozen of Kioto reproduced so beautifully at the beginning of the + 19th century under the name of _eiraku-yaki_. Undoubtedly the best + specimens of this _kinran-de_ (brocade) porcelain of Kaga merit praise + and admiration; but, on the whole, ware so gaudy could not long hold a + high place in public esteem. The Kaga potters ultimately appreciated + that defect. They still manufacture quantities of tea and coffee sets, + and dinner or dessert services of red-and-gold porcelain for foreign + markets; but about 1885 some of them made zealous and patient efforts + to revert to the processes that won so much fame for the old + Kutani-yaki, with its grand combinations of rich, lustrous, soft-toned + glazes. The attempt was never entirely successful, but its results + restored something of the Kaga kilns' reputation. Since 1895, again, a + totally new departure has been made by Morishita Hachizaemon, a + ceramic expert, in conjunction with Shida Yasukyo, president of the + Kaga products joint stock company (_Kaga bussan kabushiki kaisha_) and + teacher in the Kaga industrial school. The line chosen by these + ceramists is purely Chinese. Their great aim seems to be the + production of the exquisite Chinese monochromes known as + _u-kwo-tien-tsing_ (blue of the sky after rain) and _yueh-peh_ + (_clair-de-lune_). But they also devote much attention to porcelains + decorated with blue or red _sous couverte_. Their work shows much + promise, but like all fine specimens of the Sino-Japanese school, the + prices are too high to attract wide custom. + + + Summary. + +The sum of the matter is that the modern Japanese ceramist, after many +efforts to cater for the taste of the Occident, evidently concludes that +his best hope consists in devoting all his technical and artistic +resources to reproducing the celebrated wares of China. In explanation +of the fact that he did not essay this route in former times, it may be +noted, first, that he had only a limited acquaintance with the wares in +question; secondly, that Japanese connoisseurs never attached any value +to their countrymen's imitation of Chinese porcelains so long as the +originals were obtainable; thirdly, that the ceramic art of China not +having fallen into its present state of decadence, the idea of competing +with it did not occur to outsiders; and fourthly, that Europe and +America had not developed their present keen appreciation of Chinese +masterpieces. Yet it is remarkable that China, at the close of the 19th +century, should have again furnished models to Japanese eclecticism. + +_Lacquer._--Japan derived the art of lacquering from China (probably +about the beginning of the 6th century), but she ultimately carried it +far beyond Chinese conception. At first her experts confined themselves +to plain black lacquer. From the early part of the 8th century they +began to ornament it with dust of gold or mother-of-pearl, and +throughout the Heian epoch (9th to 12th century) they added pictorial +designs, though of a formal character, the chief motives being floral +subjects, arabesques and scrolls. All this work was in the style known +as _hira-makie_ (flat decoration); that is to say, having the decorative +design in the same plane as the ground. In the days of the great +dilettante Yoshimasa (1449-1490), lacquer experts devised a new style, +_taka-makie_, or decoration in relief, which immensely augmented the +beauty of the ware, and constituted a feature altogether special to +Japan. Thus when, at the close of the 16th century, the Taiko +inaugurated the fashion of lavishing all the resources of applied art on +the interior decoration of castles and temples, the services of the +lacquerer were employed to an extent hitherto unknown, and there +resulted some magnificent work on friezes, coffered ceilings, door +panels, altar-pieces and cenotaphs. This new departure reached its +climax in the Tokugawa mausolea of Yedo and Nikko, which are enriched by +the possession of the most splendid applications of lacquer decoration +the world has ever seen, nor is it likely that anything of comparable +beauty and grandeur will be again produced in the same line. Japanese +connoisseurs indicate the end of the 17th century as the golden period +of the art, and so deeply rooted is this belief that whenever a date has +to be assigned to any specimen of exceptionally fine quality, it is +unhesitatingly referred to the time of Joken-in (Tsunayoshi). + + Among the many skilled artists who have practised this beautiful craft + since the first on record, Kiyohara Norisuye (c. 1169), may be + mentioned Koyetsu (1558-1637) and his pupils, who are especially noted + for their inro (medicine-cases worn as part of the costume); Kajikawa + Kinjiro (c. 1680), the founder of the great Kajikawa family, which + continued up to the 19th century; and Koma Kyuhaku (d. 1715), whose + pupils and descendants maintained his traditions for a period of equal + length. Of individual artists, perhaps the most notable is Ogata Korin + (d. 1716), whose skill was equally great in the arts of painting and + pottery. He was the eldest son of an artist named Ogato Soken, and + studied the styles of the Kano and Tosa schools successively. Among + the artists who influenced him were Kano Tsunenobu, Nomura Sotatsu and + Koyetsu. His lacquer-ware is distinguished for a bold and at times + almost eccentric impressionism, and his use of inlay is strongly + characteristic. Ritsuo (1663-1747), a pupil and contemporary of Korin, + and like him a potter and painter also, was another lacquerer of great + skill. Then followed Hanzan, the two Shiome, Yamamoto Shunsho and his + pupils, Yamada Joka and Kwanshosai Toyo (late 18th century). In the + beginning of the 19th century worked Shokwasai, who frequently + collaborated with the metal-worker Shibayama, encrusting his lacquer + with small decorations in metal by the latter. + + + Modern Work. + + No important new developments have taken place during modern times in + Japan's lacquer manufacture. Her artists follow the old ways + faithfully; and indeed it is not easy to see how they could do better. + On the other hand, there has not been any deterioration; all the skill + of former days is still active. The contrary has been repeatedly + affirmed by foreign critics, but no one really familiar with modern + productions can entertain such a view. Lacquer-making, however, being + essentially an art and not a mere handicraft, has its eras of great + masters and its seasons of inferior execution. Men of the calibre of + Koyetsu Korin, Ritsuo, Kajikawa and Mitsutoshi must be rare in any + age, and the epoch when they flourished is justly remembered with + enthusiasm. But the Meiji era has had its Zeshin, and it had in 1909 + Shirayama Fukumatsu, Kawanabe Itcho, Ogawa Shomin, Uematsu Homin, + Shibayama Soichi, Morishita Morihachi and other lesser experts, all + masters in designing and execution. Zeshin, shortly before he died, + indicated Shirayama Fukumatsu as the man upon whom his mantle should + descend, and that the judgment of this really great craftsman was + correct cannot be denied by any one who has seen the works of + Shirayama. He excels in his representations of landscapes and + waterscapes, and has succeeded in transferring to gold-lacquer panels + tender and delicate pictures of nature's softest moods--pictures that + show balance, richness, harmony and a fine sense of decorative + proportion. Kawanabe Itcho is celebrated for his representations of + flowers and foliage, and Morishita Morihachi and Asano Saburo (of + Kaga) are admirable in all styles, but especially, perhaps, in the + charming variety called _togi-dashi_ (ground down), which is + pre-eminent for its satin-like texture and for the atmosphere of + dreamy softness that pervades the decoration. The togi-dashi design, + when finely executed, seems to hang suspended in the velvety lacquer + or to float under its silky surface. The magnificent sheen and + richness of the pure _kin-makie_ (gold lacquer) are wanting, but in + their place we have inimitable tenderness and delicacy. + + + New Development. + + The only branch of the lacquerer's art that can be said to have shown + any marked development in the Meiji era is that in which parts of the + decorative scheme consist of objects in gold, silver, shakudo, + shibuichi, iron, or, above all, ivory or mother-of-pearl. It might + indeed be inferred, from some of the essays published in Europe on the + subject of Japan's ornamental arts, that this application of ivory and + mother-of-pearl holds a place of paramount importance. Such is not the + case. Cabinets, fire-screens, plaques and boxes resplendent with gold + lacquer grounds carrying elaborate and profuse decoration of ivory and + mother-of-pearl[4] are not objects that appeal to Japanese taste. They + belong essentially to the catalogue of articles called into existence + to meet the demand of the foreign market, being, in fact, an attempt + to adapt the lacquerer's art to decorative furniture for European + houses. On the whole it is a successful attempt. The plumage of + gorgeously-hued birds, the blossoms of flowers (especially the + hydrangea), the folds of thick brocade, microscopic diapers and + arabesques, are built up with tiny fragments of iridescent shell, in + combination with silver-foil, gold-lacquer and coloured bone, the + whole producing a rich and sparkling effect. In fine specimens the + workmanship is extraordinarily minute, and every fragment of metal, + shell, ivory or bone, used to construct the decorative scheme, is + imbedded firmly in its place. But in a majority of cases the work of + building is done by means of paste and glue only, so that the result + lacks durability. The employment of mother-of-pearl to ornament + lacquer grounds dates from a period as remote as the 8th century, but + its use as a material for constructing decorative designs began in the + 17th century, and was due to an expert called Shibayama, whose + descendant, Shibayama Soichi, has in recent years been associated with + the same work in Tokyo. + + + Processes. + + In the manufacture of Japanese lacquer there are three processes. The + first is the extraction and preparation of the lac; the second, its + application; and the third, the decoration of the lacquered surface. + The lac, when taken from an incision in the trunk of the _Rhus + vernicifera_ (_urushi-no-ki_), contains approximately 70% of lac acid, + 4% of gum arabic, 2% of albumen, and 24% of water. It is strained, + deprived of its moisture, and receives an admixture of gamboge, + cinnabar, acetous protoxide or some other colouring matter. The object + to be lacquered, which is generally made of thin white pine, is + subjected to singularly thorough and painstaking treatment, one of the + processes being to cover it with a layer of Japanese paper or thin + hempen cloth, which is fixed by means of a pulp of rice-paste and + lacquer. In this way the danger of warping is averted, and exudations + from the wooden surface are prevented from reaching the overlaid coats + of lacquer. Numerous operations of luting, sizing, lacquering, + polishing, drying, rubbing down, and so on, are performed by the + _nurimono-shi_, until, after many days' treatment, the object emerges + with a smooth, lustre-like dark-grey or coloured surface, and is ready + to pass into the hands of the makie-shi, or decorator. The latter is + an artist; those who have performed the preliminary operations are + merely skilled artisans. The _makie-shi_ may be said to paint a + picture on the surface of the already lacquered object. He takes for + subject a landscape, a seascape, a battle-scene, flowers, foliage, + birds, fishes, insects--in short, anything. This he sketches in + outline with a paste of white lead, and then, having filled in the + details with gold and colours, he superposes a coat of translucid + lacquer, which is finally subjected to careful polishing. If parts of + the design are to be in relief, they are built up with a putty of + black lacquer, white lead, camphor and lamp-black. In all fine + lacquers gold predominates so largely that the general impression + conveyed by the object is one of glow and richness. It is also an + inviolable rule that every part must show beautiful and highly + finished work, whether it be an external or an internal part. The + makie-shi ranks almost as high as the pictorial artist in Japanese + esteem. He frequently signs his works, and a great number of names + have been thus handed down during the past two centuries. + +_Cloisonné Enamel._--Cloisonné enamel is essentially of modern +development in Japan. The process was known at an early period, and was +employed for the purpose of subsidiary decoration from the close of the +16th century, but not until the 19th century did Japanese experts begin +to manufacture the objects known in Europe as "enamels;" that is to say, +vases, plaques, censers, bowls, and so forth, having their surface +covered with vitrified pastes applied either in the _champlevé_ or the +_cloisonné_ style. It is necessary to insist upon this fact, because it +has been stated with apparent authority that numerous specimens which +began to be exported from 1865 were the outcome of industry commencing +in the 16th century and reaching its point of culmination at the +beginning of the 18th. There is not the slenderest ground for such a +theory. The work began in 1838, and Kaji Tsunekichi of Owari was its +originator. During 20 years previously to the reopening of the country +in 1858, cloisonné enamelling was practised in the manner now +understood by the term; when foreign merchants began to settle in +Yokohama, several experts were working skilfully in Owari after the +methods of Kaji Tsunekichi. Up to that time there had been little demand +for enamels of large dimensions, but when the foreign market called for +vases, censers, plaques and such things, no difficulty was found in +supplying them. Thus, about the year 1865, there commenced an export of +enamels which had no prototypes in Japan, being destined frankly for +European and American collectors. From a technical point of view these +specimens had much to recommend them. The base, usually of copper, was +as thin as cardboard; the cloisons, exceedingly fine and delicate, were +laid on with care and accuracy; the colours were even, and the designs +showed artistic judgment. Two faults, however, marred the work--first, +the shapes were clumsy and unpleasing, being copied from bronzes whose +solidity justified forms unsuited to thin enamelled vessels; secondly, +the colours, sombre and somewhat impure, lacked the glow and mellowness +that give decorative superiority to the technically inferior Chinese +enamels of the later Ming and early Tsing eras. Very soon, however, the +artisans of Nagoya (Owari), Yokohama and Tokyo--where the art had been +taken up--found that faithful and fine workmanship did not pay. The +foreign merchant desired many and cheap specimens for export, rather +than few and costly. There followed then a period of gradual decline, +and the enamels exported to Europe showed so much inferiority that they +were supposed to be the products of a widely different era and of +different makers. The industry was threatened with extinction, and would +certainly have dwindled to insignificant dimensions had not a few +earnest artists, working in the face of many difficulties and +discouragements, succeeded in striking out new lines and establishing +new standards for excellence. + + + New Schools. + + Three clearly differentiated schools now (1875) came into existence. + One, headed by Namikawa Yasuyuki of Kioto, took for its objects the + utmost delicacy and perfection of technique, richness of decoration, + purity of design and harmony of colour. The thin clumsily-shaped vases + of the Kaji school, with their uniformly distributed decoration of + diapers, scrolls and arabesques in comparatively dull colours, ceased + altogether to be produced, their place being taken by graceful + specimens, technically flawless, and carrying designs not only free + from stiffness, but also executed in colours at once rich and soft. + This school may be subdivided, Kioto representing one branch, Nagoya, + Tokyo and Yokohama the other. In the products of the Kioto branch the + decoration generally covered the whole surface of the piece; in the + products of the other branch the artist aimed rather at pictorial + effect, placing the design in a monochromatic field of low tone. It is + plain that such a method as the latter implies great command of + coloured pastes, and, indeed, no feature of the manufacture is more + conspicuous than the progress made during the period 1880-1900 in + compounding and firing vitrifiable enamels. Many excellent examples of + cloisonné enamel have been produced by each branch of this school. + There has been nothing like them in any other country, and they stand + at an immeasurable distance above the works of the early Owari school + represented by Kaji Tsunekichi and his pupils and colleagues. + + + Cloisonless Enamels. + + The second of the modern schools is headed by Namikawa Sosuke of + Tokyo. It is an easily traced outgrowth of the second branch of the + first school just described, for one can readily understand that from + placing the decorative design in a monochromatic field of low tone, + which is essentially a pictorial method, development would proceed in + the direction of concealing the mechanics of the art in order to + enhance the pictorial effect. Thus arose the so-called "cloisonless + enamels" (_musenjippo_). They are not always without cloisons. The + design is generally framed at the outset with a ribbon of thin metal, + precisely after the manner of ordinary cloisonné ware. But as the work + proceeds the cloisons are hidden--unless their presence is necessary + to give emphasis to the design--and the final result is a picture in + vitrified enamels. + + + Monochromatic Enamels. + + The characteristic productions of the third among the modern schools + are monochromatic and translucid enamels. All students of the ceramic + art know that the monochrome porcelains of China owe their beauty to + the fact that the colour is in the glaze, not under it. The ceramist + finds no difficulty in applying a uniform coat of pigment to porcelain + biscuit, and covering the whole with a diaphanous glaze. The colour is + fixed and the glaze set by secondary firing at a lower temperature + than that necessary for hardening the _pâte_. Such porcelains, + however, lack the velvet-like softness and depth of tone so justly + prized in the genuine monochrome, where the glaze itself contains the + colouring matter, _pâte_ and glaze being fired simultaneously at the + same high temperature. It is apparent that a vitrified enamel may be + made to perform, in part at any rate, the function of a porcelain + glaze. Acting upon that theory, the experts of Tokyo and Nagoya have + produced many very beautiful specimens of monochrome enamel--yellow + (canary or straw), _rose du Barry_, liquid-dawn, red, aubergine + purple, green (grass or leaf), dove-grey and lapis lazuli blue. The + pieces do not quite reach the level of Chinese monochrome porcelains, + but their inferiority is not marked. The artist's great difficulty is + to hide the metal base completely. A monochrome loses much of its + attractiveness when the colour merges into a metal rim, or when the + interior of a vase is covered with crude unpolished paste. But to + spread and fix the enamel so that neither at the rim nor in the + interior shall there be any break of continuity, or any indication + that the base is copper, not porcelain, demands quite exceptional + skill. + + + Translucid Enamel. + + The translucid enamels of the modern school are generally associated + with decorative bases. In other words, a suitable design is chiselled + in the metal base so as to be visible through the diaphanous enamel. + Very beautiful effects of broken and softened lights, combined with + depth and delicacy of colour, are thus obtained. But the decorative + designs which lend themselves to such a purpose are not numerous. A + gold base deeply chiselled in wave-diaper and overrun with a paste of + aubergine purple is the most pleasing. A still higher achievement is + to apply to the chiselled base designs executed in coloured enamels, + finally covering the whole with translucid paste. Admirable results + are thus produced; as when, through a medium of cerulean blue, bright + goldfish and blue-backed carp appear swimming in silvery waves, or + brilliantly plumaged birds seem to soar among fleecy clouds. The + artists of this school show also much skill in using enamels for the + purposes of subordinate decoration--suspending enamelled butterflies, + birds or floral sprays, among the reticulations of a silver vase + chiselled à jour; or filling with translucid enamels parts of a + decorative scheme sculptured in iron, silver, gold or shakudo. + + +V.--ECONOMIC CONDITIONS + + Roads and Posts in Early Times. + +_Communications._--From the conditions actually existing in the 8th +century after the Christian era the first compilers of Japanese history +inferred the conditions which might have existed in the 7th century +before that era. One of their inferences was that, in the early days, +communication was by water only, and that not until 549 B.C. did the +most populous region of the empire--the west coast--come into possession +of public roads. Six hundred years later, the local satraps are +represented as having received instructions to build regular highways, +and in the 3rd century the massing of troops for an over-sea expedition +invested roads with new value. Nothing is yet heard, however, about +posts. These evidences of civilization did not make their appearance +until the first great era of Japanese reform, the Taika period +(645-650), when stations were established along the principal highways, +provision was made of post-horses, and a system of bells and checks was +devised for distinguishing official carriers. In those days ordinary +travellers were required to carry passports, nor had they any share in +the benefits of the official organization, which was entirely under the +control of the minister of war. Great difficulties attended the +movements of private persons. Even the task of transmitting to the +central government provincial taxes paid in kind had to be discharged by +specially organized parties, and this journey from the north-eastern +districts to the capital generally occupied three months. At the close +of the 7th century the emperor Mommu is said to have enacted a law that +wealthy persons living near the highways must supply rice to travellers, +and in 745 an empress (Koken) directed that a stock of medical +necessaries must be kept at the postal stations. Among the benevolent +acts attributed to renowned Buddhist priests posterity specially +remembers their efforts to encourage the building of roads and bridges. +The great emperor Kwammu (782-806) was constrained to devote a space of +five years to the reorganization of the whole system of post-stations. +Owing to the anarchy which prevailed during the 10th, 11th and 12th +centuries, facilities of communication disappeared almost entirely, even +for men of rank a long journey involved danger of starvation or fatal +exposure, and the pains and perils of travel became a household word +among the people. + + Yoritomo, the founder of feudalism at the close of the 12th century, + was too great a statesman to underestimate the value of roads and + posts. The highway between his stronghold, Kamakura, and the imperial + city, Kioto, began in his time to develop features which ultimately + entitled it to be called one of the finest roads in the world. But + after Yoritomo's death the land became once more an armed camp, in + which the rival barons discouraged travel beyond the limits of their + own domains. Not until the Tokugawa family obtained military control + of the whole empire (1603), and, fixing its capital at Yedo, required + the feudal chiefs to reside there every second year, did the problem + of roads and post-stations force itself once more on official + attention. Regulations were now strictly enforced, fixing the number + of horses and carriers available at each station, the loads to be + carried by them and their charges, as well as the transport services + that each feudal chief was entitled to demand and the fees he had to + pay in return. Tolerable hostelries now came into existence, but they + furnished only shelter, fuel and the coarsest kind of food. By + degrees, however, the progresses of the feudal chiefs to and from + Yedo, which at first were simple and economical, developed features of + competitive magnificence, and the importance of good roads and + suitable accommodation received increased attention. This found + expression in practice in 1663. A system more elaborate than anything + antecedent was then introduced under the name of "flying transport." + Three kinds of couriers operated. The first class were in the direct + employment of the shogunate. They carried official messages between + Yedo and Osaka--a distance of 348 miles--in four days by means of a + well organized system of relays. The second class maintained + communications between the fiefs and the Tokugawa court as well as + their own families in Yedo, for in the alternate years of a + feudatory's compulsory residence in that city his family had to live + there. The third class were maintained by a syndicate of 13 merchants + as a private enterprise for transmitting letters between the three + great cities of Kioto, Osaka and Yedo and intervening places. This + syndicate did not undertake to deliver a letter direct to an + addressee. The method pursued was to expose letters and parcels at + fixed places in the vicinity of their destination, leaving the + addressees to discover for themselves that such things had arrived. + Imperfect as this system was, it represented a great advance from the + conditions in medieval times. + + + The Tokaido. + + The Nakasendoo. + + The Oshukaido. + + The nation does not seem to have appreciated the deficiencies of the + syndicate's service, supplemented as it was by a network of waterways + which greatly increased the facilities for transport. After the + cessation of civil wars under the sway of the Tokugawa, the building + and improvement of roads went on steadily. It is not too much to say, + indeed, that when Japan opened her doors to foreigners in the middle + of the 19th century, she possessed a system of roads some of which + bore striking testimony to her medieval greatness. The most remarkable + was the Tokaido (eastern-seaway), so called because it ran eastward + along the coast from Kioto. This great highway, 345 m. long, connected + Osaka and Kioto with Yedo. The date of its construction is not + recorded, but it certainly underwent signal improvement in the 12th + and 13th centuries, and during the two and a half centuries of + Tokugawa sway in Yedo. A wide, well-made and well-kept avenue, it was + lined throughout the greater part of its length by giant pine-trees, + rendering it the most picturesque highway in the world. Iyeyasu, the + founder of the Tokugawa dynasty of shoguns, directed that his body + should be interred at Nikko, a place of exceptional beauty, + consecrated eight hundred years previously. This meant an extension of + the Tokaido (under a different name) nearly a hundred miles northward, + for the magnificent shrines erected then at Nikko and the periodical + ceremonies thenceforth performed there demanded a correspondingly fine + avenue of approach. The original Tokaido was taken for model, and Yedo + and Nikko were joined by a highway flanked by rows of cryptomeria. + Second only to the Tokaido is the Nakasendo (mid-mountain road), which + also was constructed to join Kioto with Yedo, but follows an inland + course through the provinces of Yamashiro, Omi, Mino, Shinshu, Kotzuke + and Musashi. Its length is 340 m., and though not flanked by trees or + possessing so good a bed as the Tokaido, it is nevertheless a + sufficiently remarkable highway. A third road, the Oshukaido runs + northward from Yedo (now Tokyo) to Aomori on the extreme north of the + main island, a distance of 445 m., and several lesser highways give + access to other regions. + + + Modern Superintendence of Roads. + +The question of road superintendence received early attention from the +government of the restoration. At a general assembly of local prefects +held at Tokyo in June 1875 it was decided to classify the different +roads throughout the empire, and to determine the several sources from +which the sums necessary for their maintenance and repair should be +drawn. After several days' discussion all roads were eventually ranged +under one or other of the following heads:-- + + I. National roads, consisting of-- + + Class 1. Roads leading from Tokyo to the various treaty ports. + + Class 2. Roads leading from Tokyo to the ancestral shrines in the + province of Ise, and also to the cities or to military stations. + + Class 3. Roads leading from Tokyo to the prefectural offices, and + those forming the lines of connexion between cities and military + stations. + + II. Prefectural roads, consisting of-- + + Class 1. Roads connecting different prefectures, or leading from + military stations to their outposts. + + Class 2. Roads connecting the head offices of cities and prefectures + with their branch offices. + + Class 3. Roads connecting noted localities with the chief town of + such neighbourhoods, or leading to seaports convenient of access. + + III. Village roads, consisting of-- + + Class 1. Roads passing through several localities in succession, or + merely leading from one locality to another. + + Class 2. Roads specially constructed for the convenience of + irrigation, pasturage, mines, factories, &c., in accordance with + measures determined by the people of the locality. + + Class 3. Roads constructed for the benefit of Shinto shrines, + Buddhist temples, or to facilitate the cultivation of rice-fields + and arable land. + +Of the above three headings, it was decided that all national roads +should be maintained at the national expense, the regulations for their +up-keep being entrusted to the care of the prefectures along the line of +route, and the cost incurred being paid from the Imperial treasury. +Prefectural roads are maintained by a joint contribution from the +government and from the particular prefecture, each paying one-half of +the sum needed. Village roads, being for the convenience of local +districts alone, are maintained at the expense of such districts under +the general supervision of the corresponding prefecture. The width of +national roads was determined at 42 ft. for class 1, 36 ft. for class 2, +and 30 ft. for class 3; the prefectural roads were to be from 24 to 30 +ft., and the dimensions of the village roads were optional, according to +the necessity of the case. + + + Vehicles. + + The Jinrikisha. + + The vehicles chiefly employed in ante-Meiji days were ox-carriages, + _norimono_, _kago_ and carts drawn by hand. Ox-carriages were used + only by people of the highest rank. They were often constructed of + rich lacquer; the curtains suspended in front were of the finest + bamboo workmanship, with thick cords and tassels of plaited silk, and + the draught animal, an ox of handsome proportions, was brilliantly + caparisoned. The care and expense lavished upon these highly ornate + structures would have been deemed extravagant even in medieval Europe. + They have passed entirely out of use, and are now to be seen in + museums only, but the type still exists in China. The norimono + resembled a miniature house slung by its roof-ridge from a massive + pole which projected at either end sufficiently to admit the shoulders + of a carrier. It, too, was frequently of very ornamental nature and + served to carry aristocrats or officials of high position. The kago + was the humblest of all conveyances recognized as usable by the upper + classes. It was an open palanquin, V-shaped in cross section, slung + from a pole which rested on the shoulders of two bearers. + Extraordinary skill and endurance were shown by the men who carried + the norimono and the kago, but none the less these vehicles were both + profoundly uncomfortable. They have now been relegated to the + warehouses of undertakers, where they serve as bearers for folks too + poor to employ catafalques, their place on the roads and in the + streets having been completely taken by the _jinrikisha_, a + two-wheeled vehicle pulled by one or two men who think nothing of + running 20 m. at the rate of 6 m. an hour. The jinrikisha was devised + by a Japanese in 1870, and since then it has come into use throughout + the whole of Asia eastward of the Suez Canal. Luggage, of course, + could not be carried by norimono or kago. It was necessary to have + recourse to packmen, pack-horses or baggage-carts drawn by men or + horses. All these still exist and are as useful as ever within certain + limits. In the cities and towns horses used as beasts of burden are + now shod with iron, but in rural or mountainous districts straw shoes + are substituted, a device which enables the animals to traverse rocky + or precipitous roads with safety. + +_Railways._--It is easy to understand that an enterprise like railway +construction, requiring a great outlay of capital with returns long +delayed, did not at first commend itself to the Japanese, who were +almost entirely ignorant of co-operation as a factor of business +organization. Moreover, long habituated to snail-like modes of travel, +the people did not rapidly appreciate the celerity of the locomotive. +Neither the ox-cart, the norimono, nor the kago covered a daily distance +of over 20 m. on the average, and the packhorse was even slower. Amid +such conditions the idea of railways would have been slow to germinate +had not a catastrophe furnished some impetus. In 1869 a rice-famine +occurred in the southern island, Kiushiu, and while the cereal was +procurable abundantly in the northern provinces, people in the south +perished of hunger owing to lack of transport facilities. Sir Harry +Parkes, British representative in Tokyo, seized this occasion to urge +the construction of railways. Ito and Okuma, then influential members of +the government, at once recognized the wisdom of his advice. +Arrangements were made for a loan of a million sterling in London on the +security of the customs revenue, and English engineers were engaged to +lay a line between Tokyo and Yokohama (18 m.). Vehement voices of +opposition were at once raised in private and official circles alike, +all persons engaged in transport business imagined themselves threatened +with ruin, and conservative patriots detected loss of national +independence in a foreign loan. So fierce was the antagonism that the +military authorities refused to permit operations of survey in the +southern suburb of Tokyo, and the road had to be laid on an embankment +constructed in the sea. Ito and Okuma, however, never flinched, and they +were ably supported by Marquis M. Inouye and M. Mayejima. The latter +published, in 1870, the first Japanese work on railways, advocating the +building of lines from Tokyo to Kioto and Osaka; the former, appointed +superintendent of the lines, held that post for 30 years, and is justly +spoken of as "the father of Japanese railways." + + September 1872 saw the first official opening of a railway (the + Tokyo-Yokohama line) in Japan, the ceremony being performed by the + emperor himself, a measure which effectually silenced all further + opposition. Eight years from the time of turning the first sod saw 71 + m. of road open to traffic, the northern section being that between + Tokyo and Yokohama, and the southern that between Kioto and Kobe. A + period of interruption now ensued, owing to domestic troubles and + foreign complications, and when, in 1878, the government was able to + devote attention once again to railway problems, it found the treasury + empty. Then for the first time a public works loan was floated in the + home market, and about £300,000 of the total thus obtained passed into + the hands of the railway bureau, which at once undertook the building + of a road from Kioto to the shore of Lake Biwa, a work memorable as + the first line built in Japan without foreign assistance.[5] During + all this time private enterprise had remained wholly inactive in the + matter of railways, and it became a matter of importance to rouse the + people from this apathetic attitude. For the ordinary process of + organizing a joint-stock company and raising share-capital the nation + was not yet prepared. But shortly after the abolition of feudalism + there had come into the possession of the former feudatories state + loan-bonds amounting to some 18 millions sterling, which represented + the sum granted by the treasury in commutation of the revenues + formerly accruing to these men from their fiefs. Already events had + shown that the feudatories, quite devoid of business experience, were + not unlikely to dispose of these bonds and devote the proceeds to + unsound enterprises. Prince Iwakura, one of the leaders of the Meiji + statesmen, persuaded the feudatories to employ a part of the bonds as + capital for railway construction, and thus the first private railway + company was formed in Japan under the name _Nippon tetsudo kaisha_ + (Japan railway company), the treasury guaranteeing 8% on the paid-up + capital for a period of 15 years. Some time elapsed before this + example found followers, but ultimately a programme was elaborated and + carried out having for its basis a grand trunk line extending the + whole length of the main island from Aomori on the north to + Shimonoseki on the south, a distance of 1153 m.; and a continuation of + the same line throughout the length of the southern island of Kiushiu, + from Moji on the north--which lies on the opposite side of the strait + from Shimonoseki--to Kagoshima on the south, a distance of 232¾ m.; as + well as a line from Moji to Nagasaki, a distance of 163½ m. Of this + main road the state undertook to build the central section (376 m.), + between Tokyo and Kobe (via Kioto); the Japan railway company + undertook the portion (457 m.) northward of Tokyo to Aomori; the Sanyo + railway company undertook the portion (320 m.) southward of Tokyo to + Shimonoseki; and the Kiushiu railway company undertook the lines in + Kiushiu. The whole line is now in operation. The first project was to + carry the Tokyo-Kioto line through the interior of the island so as to + secure it against enterprises on the part of a maritime enemy. Such + engineering difficulties presented themselves, however, that the coast + route was ultimately chosen, and though the line through the interior + was subsequently constructed, strategical considerations were not + allowed completely to govern its direction. + + When this building of railways began in Japan, much discussion was + taking place in England and India as to the relative advantages of the + wide and narrow gauges, and so strongly did the arguments in favour of + the latter appeal to the English advisers of the Japanese government + that the metre gauge was chosen. Some fitful efforts made in later + years to change the system proved unsuccessful. The lines are single, + for the most part; and as the embankments, the cuttings, the culverts + and the bridge-piers have not been constructed for a double line, any + change now would be very costly. The average speed of passenger trains + in Japan is 18 m. an hour, the corresponding figure over the + metre-gauge roads in India being 16 m., and the figure for English + parliamentary trains from 19 to 28 m. British engineers surveyed the + routes for the first lines and superintended the work of construction, + but within a few years the Japanese were able to dispense with foreign + aid altogether, both in building and operating their railways. They + also construct carriages, wagons and locomotives, and they may + therefore be said to have become entirely independent in the matter of + railways, for a government iron-foundry at Wakamatsu in Kiushiu is + able to manufacture steel rails. + + The total length of lines open for traffic at the end of March 1906 + was 4746 m., 1470 m. having been built by the state and 3276 by + private companies; the former at a cost of 16 millions sterling for + construction and equipment, and the latter at a cost of 25 millions. + Thus the expenditure by the state averaged £10,884 per mile, and that + by private companies, £7631. This difference is explained by the facts + that the state lines having been the pioneers, portions of them were + built before experience had indicated cheap methods; that a very large + and costly foreign staff was employed on these roads in the early + days, whereas no such item appeared in the accounts of private lines; + that extensive works for the building of locomotives and rolling stock + are connected with the government's roads, and that it fell to the lot + of the state to undertake lines in districts presenting exceptional + engineering difficulties, such districts being naturally avoided by + private companies. The gross earnings of all the lines during the + fiscal year 1905-1906 were 7 millions sterling, approximately, and the + gross expenses (including the payment of interest on loans and + debentures) were under 3½ millions, so that there remained a net + profit of 3½ millions, being at the rate of a little over 8½% on the + invested capital. The facts that the outlays averaged less than 47% of + the gross income, and that accidents and irregularities are not + numerous, prove that Japanese management in this kind of enterprise is + efficient. + + + Nationalization of Private Railways. + + When the fiscal year 1906-1907 opened, the number of private companies + was no less than 36, owning and operating 3276 m. of railway. To say + that this represented an average of 91 m. per company is to convey an + over-favourable idea, for, as a matter of fact, 15 of the companies + averaged less than 24 m. Anything like efficient co-operation was + impossible in such circumstances, and constant complaints were heard + about delays in transit and undue expense. The defects of divided + ownership had long suggested the expediency of nationalization, but + not until 1906 could the diet be induced to give its consent. On March + 31 of that year, a railway nationalization law was promulgated. It + enacted that, within a period of 10 years from 1906 to 1915, the state + should purchase the 17 principal private roads, which had a length of + 2812 m., and whose cost of construction and equipment had been 23½ + millions sterling. The original scheme included 15 other railways, + with an aggregate mileage of only 353 m.; but these were eliminated as + being lines of local interest only. The actual purchase price of the + 17 lines was calculated at 43 millions sterling (about double their + cost price), on the following basis: (a) An amount equal to 20 times + the sum obtained by multiplying the cost of construction at the date + of purchase by the average ratio of the profit to the cost of + construction during the six business terms of the company from the + second half-year of 1902 to the first half-year of 1905. (b) The + amount of the actual cost of stored articles converted according to + current prices thereof into public loan-bonds at face value, except in + the case of articles which had been purchased with borrowed money. The + government agreed to hand over the purchase money within 5 years from + the date of the acquisition of the lines, in public loan-bonds bearing + 5% interest calculated at their face value; the bonds to be redeemed + out of the net profits accruing from the purchased railways. It was + calculated that this redemption would be effected in a period of 32 + years, after which the annual profit accruing to the state from the + lines would be 5½ millions sterling. But the nationalization scheme, + though apparently the only effective method of linking together and + co-ordinating an excessively subdivided system of lines, has proved a + source of considerable financial embarrassment. For when the state + constituted itself virtually the sole owner of railways, it + necessarily assumed responsibility for extending them so that they + should suffice to meet the wants of a nation numbering some 50 + millions. Such extension could be effected only by borrowing money. + Now the government was pledged by the diet in 1907 to an expenditure + of 11½ millions (spread over 8 years) for extending the old state + system of roads, and an expenditure of 6¼ millions (spread over 12 + years) for improving them. But from the beginning of that year, a + period of extreme commercial and financial depression set in, and the + treasury had to postpone all recourse to loans for whatever purpose, + so that railway progress was completely checked in the field alike of + the original and the acquired state lines. Moreover, all securities + underwent such sharp depreciation that, on the one hand, the + government hesitated to hand over the bonds representing the + purchase-price of the railways, lest such an addition to the volume of + stocks should cause further depreciation, and, on the other, the + former owners of the nationalized lines found the character of their + bargain greatly changed. In these circumstances the government decided + to take a strong step, namely, to place the whole of the railways + owned by it--the original state lines as well as those + nationalized--in an account independent of the regular budget, and to + devote their entire profits to works of extension and improvement, + supplementing the amount with loans from the treasury when necessary. + + + South Manchuria Railway. + + In the sequel of the war of 1904-5 Japan, with China's consent, + acquired from Russia the lease of the portion of the South-Manchuria + railway (see MANCHURIA) between Kwang-cheng-tsze (Chang-chun) on the + north and Tairen (Dalny), Port Arthur and Niuchwang on the south--a + total length of 470 m. At the close of 1906 this road was handed over + to a joint-stock company with a capital of 20 millions sterling, the + government contributing 10 millions in the form of the road and its + associated properties; the public subscribing 2 millions, and the + company being entitled to issue debentures to the extent of 8 + millions, the principal and interest of these debentures being + officially guaranteed. Four millions' worth of debentures were issued + in London in 1907 and 4 millions in 1908. This company's programme is + not limited to operating the railway. It also works coal-fields at + Yentai and Fushun; has a line of steamers plying between Tairen and + Shanghai; and engages in enterprises of electricity, warehousing and + the management of houses and lands within zones 50 _li_ (17 m.) wide + on either side of the line. The government guarantees 6% interest on + the capital paid up by the general public. + + + Electric Railways. + + Not until 1905 did Japan come into possession of an electric railway. + It was a short line of 8 m., built in Kioto for the purposes of a + domestic exhibition held in that city. Thenceforth this class of + enterprise grew steadily in favour, so that, in 1907, there were 16 + companies with an aggregate capital of 8 millions sterling, having 165 + m. open to traffic and 77 m. under construction. Fifteen other + companies with an aggregate capital of 3 millions had also obtained + charters. The principal of these is the Tokyo railway company, with a + subscribed capital of 6 millions (3½ paid up), 90½ m. of line open and + 149 m. under construction. In 1907 it carried 153 million passengers, + and its net earnings were £300,000. + + + Maritime Communications. + +The traditional story of prehistoric Japan indicates that the first +recorded emperor was an over-sea invader, whose followers must therefore +have possessed some knowledge of ship-building and navigation. But in +what kind of craft they sailed and how they handled them, there is +nothing to show clearly. Nine centuries later, but still 500 years +before the era of surviving written annals, an empress is said to have +invaded Korea, embarking her forces at Kobe (then called Takekura) in +500 vessels. In the middle of the 6th century we read of a general named +Abe-no-hirafu who led a flotilla up the Amur river to the invasion of +Manchuria (then called Shukushin). All these things show that the +Japanese of the earliest era navigated the high sea with some skill, and +at later dates down to medieval times they are found occasionally +sending forces to Korea and constantly visiting China in vessels which +seem to have experienced no difficulty in making the voyage. The 16th +century was a period of maritime activity so marked that, had not +artificial checks been applied, the Japanese, in all probability, would +have obtained partial command of Far-Eastern waters. They invaded Korea; +their corsairs harried the coasts of China; two hundred of their +vessels, sailing under authority of the Taiko's vermilion seal, visited +Siam, Luzon, Cochin China and Annam, and they built ships in European +style which crossed the Pacific to Acapulco. But this spirit of +adventure was chilled at the close of the 16th century and early in the +17th, when events connected with the propagation of Christianity taught +the Japanese to believe that national safety could not be secured +without international isolation. In 1638 the ports were closed to all +foreign ships except those flying the flag of Holland or of China, and a +strictly enforced edict forbade the building of any vessel having a +capacity of more than 500 _koku_ (150 tons) or constructed for purposes +of ocean navigation. Thenceforth, with rare exceptions, Japanese craft +confined themselves to the coastwise trade. Ocean-going enterprise +ceased altogether. + +Things remained thus until the middle of the 19th century, when a +growing knowledge of the conditions existing in the West warned the +Tokugawa administration that continued isolation would be suicidal. In +1853 the law prohibiting the construction of sea-going ships was revoked +and the Yedo government built at Uraga a sailing vessel of European type +aptly called the "Phoenix" ("Howo Maru"). Just 243 years had elapsed +since the founder of the Tokugawa dynasty constructed Japan's first ship +after a foreign model, with the aid of an English pilot, Will Adams. In +1853 Commodore M. C. Perry made his appearance, and thenceforth +everything conspired to push Japan along the new path. The Dutch, who +had been proximately responsible for the adoption of the seclusion +policy in the 17th century, now took a prominent part in promoting a +liberal view. They sent to the Tokugawa a present of a man-of-war and +urged the vital necessity of equipping the country with a navy. Then +followed the establishment of a naval college at Tsukiji in Yedo, the +building of iron-works at Nagasaki, and the construction at Yokosuka of +a dockyard destined to become one of the greatest enterprises of its +kind in the East. This last undertaking bore witness to the patriotism +of the Tokugawa rulers, for they resolutely carried it to completion +during the throes of a revolution which involved the downfall of their +dynasty. Their encouragement of maritime enterprise had borne fruit, for +when, in 1867, they restored the administration to the Imperial court, +44 ocean-going ships were found among their possessions and 94 were in +the hands of the feudatories, a steamer and 20 sailing vessels having +been constructed in Japan and the rest purchased abroad. + +If the Tokugawa had been energetic in this respect, the new government +was still more so. It caused the various maritime carriers to amalgamate +into one association called the _Nippon-koku yubin jokisen kaisha_ (Mail +SS. Company of Japan), to which were transferred, free of charge, the +steamers, previously the property of the Tokugawa or the feudatories, +and a substantial subsidy was granted by the state. This, the first +steamship company ever organized in Japan, remained in existence only +four years. Defective management and incapacity to compete with +foreign-owned vessels plying between the open ports caused its downfall +(1875). Already, however, an independent company had appeared upon the +scene. Organized and controlled by a man (Iwasaki Yataro) of exceptional +enterprise and business faculty, this _mitsubishi kaisha_ (three lozenge +company, so called from the design on its flag), working with steamers +chartered from the former feudatory of Tosa, to which clan Iwasaki +belonged, proved a success from the outset, and grew with each +vicissitude of the state. For when (1874) the Meiji government's first +complications with a foreign country necessitated the despatch of a +military expedition to Formosa, the administration had to purchase 63 +foreign steamers for transport purposes, and these were subsequently +transferred to the mitsubishi company together with all the vessels (17) +hitherto in the possession of the Mail SS. Company, the Treasury further +granting to the mitsubishi a subsidy of £50,000 annually. Shortly +afterwards it was decided to purchase a service maintained by the +Pacific Mail SS. Company with 4 steamers between Yokohama and Shanghai, +and money for the purpose having been lent by the state to the +mitsubishi, Japan's first line of steamers to a foreign country was +firmly established, just 20 years after the law interdicting the +construction of ocean-going vessels had been rescinded. + + The next memorable event in this chapter of history occurred in 1877, + when the Satsuma clan, eminently the most powerful and most warlike + among all the former feudatories, took the field in open rebellion. + For a time the fate of the government hung in the balance, and only by + a flanking movement over-sea was the rebellion crushed. This strategy + compelled the purchase of 10 foreign steamers, and these too were + subsequently handed over to the mitsubishi company, which, in 1880, + found itself possessed of 32 ships aggregating 25,600 tons, whereas + all the other vessels of foreign type in the country totalled only 27 + with a tonnage of 6500. It had now become apparent that the country + could not hope to meet emergencies which might at any moment arise, + especially in connexion with Korean affairs, unless the development of + the mercantile marine proceeded more rapidly. Therefore in 1881 the + formation of a new company was officially promoted. It had the name of + the _kyodo unyu kaisha_ (Union Transport Company); its capital was + about a million sterling; it received a large subsidy from the state, + and its chief purpose was to provide vessels for military uses and as + commerce-carriers. Japan had now definitely embraced the policy of + entrusting to private companies rather than to the state the duty of + acquiring a fleet of vessels capable of serving as transports or + auxiliary cruisers in time of war. But there was now seen the curious + spectacle of two companies (the Mitsubishi and the Union Transport) + competing in the same waters and both subsidized by the treasury. + After this had gone on for four years, the two companies were + amalgamated (1885) into the _Nippon yusen kaisha_ (Japan Mail SS. + Company) with a capital of £1,100,000 and an annual subsidy of + £88,000, fixed on the basis of 8% of the capital. Another company had + come into existence a few months earlier. Its fleet consisted of 100 + small steamers, totalling 10,000 tons, which had hitherto been + competing in the Inland Sea. + + Japan now possessed a substantial mercantile marine, the rate of whose + development is indicated by the following figures:-- + + Year. Steamers. Sailing Vessels. Totals. + Number. Tons. Number. Tons. Number. Tons. + + 1870 35 15,498 11 2,454 46 17,952 + 1892 642 122,300 780 46,065 1,422 168,365 + + Nevertheless, only 23% of the exports and imports was transported in + Japanese bottoms in 1892, whereas foreign steamers took 77%. This + discrepancy was one of the subjects discussed in the first session of + the diet, but a bill presented by the government for encouraging + navigation failed to obtain parliamentary consent, and in 1893 the + Japan Mail SS. Company, without waiting for state assistance, opened a + regular service to Bombay mainly for the purpose of carrying raw + cotton from India to supply the spinning industry which had now + assumed great importance in Japan. Thus the rising sun flag flew for + the first time outside Far-Eastern waters. Almost immediately after + the establishment of this line, Japan had to engage in war with China, + which entailed the despatch of some two hundred thousand men to the + neighbouring continent and their maintenance there for more than a + year. All the country's available shipping resources did not suffice + for this task. Additional vessels had to be purchased or chartered, + and thus, by the beginning of 1896, the mercantile marine of Japan had + grown to 899 steamers of 373,588 tons, while the sailing vessels had + diminished to 644 of 44,000 tons. + + In 1897 there occurred an event destined to exercise a potent + influence on the fortunes not only of Japan herself but also of her + mercantile marine. No sooner had she exchanged with China + ratifications of a treaty of peace which seemed to prelude a long + period of tranquillity, than Russia, Germany and France ordered her to + restore all the continental territory ceded to her by China. Japan + then recognized that her hope of peace was delusive, and that she must + be prepared to engage in a struggle incomparably more serious than the + one from which she had just emerged. Determined that when the crucial + moment came she should not be found without ample means for + transporting her armies, the government, under the leadership of + Prince Ito and with the consent of the diet, enacted, in March 1896 + laws liberally encouraging ship-building and navigation. Under the + navigation law "any Japanese subject or any commercial company whose + partners or shareholders were all Japanese subjects, engaged in + carrying passengers and cargo between Japan and foreign countries or + between foreign ports, in their own vessels, which must be of at least + 1000 tons and registered in the shipping list of the Empire, became + entitled to subsidies proportionate to the distance run and the + tonnage of the vessels"; and under the ship-building law, bounties + were granted for the construction of iron or steel vessels of not less + than 700 tons gross by any Japanese subject or any commercial company + whose partners and shareholders were all Japanese. The effect of this + legislation was marked. In the period of six years ended 1902, no less + than 835 vessels of 455,000 tons were added to the mercantile marine, + and the treasury found itself paying encouragement money which + totalled six hundred thousand pounds annually. Ship-building underwent + remarkable development. Thus, while in 1870 only 2 steamers + aggregating 57 tons had been constructed in Japanese yards, 53 + steamers totalling 5380 tons and 193 sailing vessels of 17,873 tons + were launched in 1900. By the year 1907 Japan had 216 private ship + yards and 42 private docks,[6] and while the government yards were + able to build first-class line-of-battle ships of the largest size, + the private docks were turning out steamers of 9000 tons burden. When + war broke out with Russia in 1904, Japan had 567,000 tons of steam + shipping, but that stupendous struggle obliged her to materially + augment even this great total. In operations connected with the war + she lost 71,000 tons, but on the other hand, she built 27,000 tons at + home and bought 177,000 abroad, so that the net increase to her + mercantile fleet of steamers was 133,000 tons. The following table + shows the growth of her marine during the ten years ending 1907:-- + + Steamers. Sailing Vessels. Totals. + + Gross Gross Gross + Year. Number. Tonnage. Number. Tonnage. Number. Tonnage. + + 1898 1130 477,430 1914 170,194 3044 648,324 + 1899 1221 510,007 3322 286,923 4543 467,930 + 1900 1329 543,365 3850 320,572 5179 863,937 + 1901 1395 583,532 4026 336,528 5471 920,060 + 1902 1441 610,445 3907 336,154 5348 946,600 + 1903 1570 663,220 3934 328,953 5504 992,173 + 1904 1815 798,240 3940 329,125 5755 1,127,365 + 1905 1988 939,749 4132 336,571 6170 1,276,320 + 1906 2103 1,041,569 4547 353,356 6700 1,395,925 + 1907 2139 1,115,880 4728 365,559 6867 1,481,439 + + With regard to the development of ship-building in Japanese yards the + following figures convey information:-- + + NUMBERS OF VESSELS BUILT IN JAPAN AND NUMBERS PURCHASED ABROAD + + Built in Japan. Purchased abroad. + + Year. Steamers. Sailing Vessels. Steamers. Sailing Vessels. + 1898 479 1301 194 9 + 1899 554 2771 199 12 + 1900 653 3302 206 7 + 1901 754 3559 215 6 + 1902 813 3585 220 6 + 1903 855 5304 233 8 + 1904 947 3324 277 8 + 1905 1028 3508 357 11 + 1906 1100 3859 387 11 + 1907 1150 4033 419 12 + + In the building of iron and steel ships the Japanese are obliged to + import much of the material used, but a large steel-foundry has been + established under government auspices at Wakamatsu in Kiushiu, that + position having been chosen on account of comparative proximity to the + Taiya iron mine in China, where the greater part of the iron ore used + for the foundry is procured. + + + Seamen. + + Simultaneously with the growth of the mercantile marine there has been + a marked development in the number of licensed mariners; that is to + say, seamen registered by the government as having passed the + examination prescribed by law. In 1876 there were only 4 Japanese + subjects who satisfied that definition as against 74 duly qualified + foreigners holding responsible positions. In 1895 the numbers were + 4135 Japanese and 835 foreigners, and ten years later the + corresponding figures were 16,886 and 349 respectively. In 1904 the + ordinary seamen of the mercantile marine totalled 202,710. + + + Education of Mariners. + + There are in Japan various institutions where the theory and practice + of navigation are taught. The principal of these is the _Tokyo shosen + gakko_ (Tokyo mercantile marine college, established in 1875), where + some 600 of the men now serving as officers arid engineers have + graduated. Well equipped colleges exist also in seven other places, + all having been established with official co-operation. Mention must + be made of a mariners' assistance association (_kaiin ekizai-kai_, + established in 1800) which acts as a kind of agency for supplying + mariners to shipowners, and of a distressed mariners' relief + association (_suinan kyusai-kai_) which has succoured about a hundred + thousand seamen since its establishment in 1899. + + + Maritime Administration. + + The duty of overseeing all matters relating to the maritime carrying + trade devolves on the department of state for communications, and is + delegated by the latter to one of its bureaus (the _Kwansen-kyoku_, or + ships superintendence bureau), which, again, is divided into three + sections: one for inspecting vessels, one for examining mariners, and + one for the general control of all shipping in Japanese waters. For + the better discharge of its duties this bureau parcels out the empire + into 4 districts, having their headquarters at Tokyo, Osaka, Nagasaki + and Hakodate; and these four districts are in turn subdivided into 18 + sections, each having an office of marine affairs (_kwaiji-kyoku_). + + + Competition between Japanese and Foreign Ships. + + Competition between Japanese and foreign ships in the carriage of the + country's over-sea trade soon began to assume appreciable dimensions. + Thus, whereas in 1891 the portion carried in Japanese bottoms was only + 1½ millions sterling against 12½ millions carried by foreign vessels, + the corresponding figures in 1902 were 20½ millions against 32¼ + millions. In other words, Japanese steamers carried only 11% of the + total trade in 1891, but their share rose to 39% in 1902. The prospect + suggested by this record caused some uneasiness, which was not allayed + by observing that while the tonnage of Japanese vessels in Chinese + ports was only 2% in 1896 as compared with foreign vessels, the + former figure grew to 16% in 1902; while in Korean ports Japanese + steamers almost monopolized the carrying trade, leaving only 18% to + their foreign rivals, and even in Hong-Kong the tonnage of Japanese + ships increased from 3% in 1896 to 13% in 1900. In 1898 Japan stood + eleventh on the list of the thirteen principal maritime countries of + the world, but in 1907 she rose to the fifth place. Her principal + company, the Nippon yusen kaisha, though established as lately as + 1885, now ranks ninth in point of tonnage among the 21 leading + maritime companies of the world. This company was able to supply 55 + out of a total fleet of 207 transports furnished by all the steamship + companies of Japan for military and naval purposes during the war with + Russia in 1904-5. It may be noted in conclusion that the development + of Japan's steam-shipping during the five decades ended 1907 was as + follows:-- + + Tons. + + At the end of 1868 17,952 + At the end of 1878 63,468 + At the end of 1888 197,365 + At the end of 1898 648,324 + At the end of 1907 1,115,880 + + + Open Ports. + + There are 33 ports in Japan open as places of call for foreign + steamers. Their names with the dates of their opening are as follow:-- + + Name. Date of Opening. Situation. + + Yokohama 1859 Main Island. + Kobe 1868 " + Niigata 1867 " + Osaka 1899 " + Yokkaichi " " + Shimonoseki " " + Itozaki " " + Taketoyo " " + Shimizu " " + Tsuruga " " + Nanao " " + Fushiki " " + Sakai " " + Hamada " " + Miyazu " " + Aomori 1906 " + Nagasaki 1859 Kiushiu. + Moji 1899 " + Hakata " " + Karatsu " " + Kuchinotsu " " + Misumi " " + Suminoye 1906 " + Izuhara 1899 Tsushima. + Sasuna " " + Shikami " " + Nafa " Riukiu. + Otaru " Yezo. + Kushiro " " + Mororan " " + Hakodate 1865 " + Kelung 1899 Formosa. + Tamsui " " + Takow " " + Anping " " + +_Emigration._--Characteristic of the Japanese is a spirit of adventure: +they readily emigrate to foreign countries if any inducement offers. A +strong disposition to exclude them has displayed itself in the United +States of America, in Australasia and in British Columbia, and it is +evident that, since one nation cannot force its society on another at +the point of the sword, this anti-Asiatic prejudice will have to be +respected, though it has its origin in nothing more respectable than the +jealousy of the labouring classes. One result is an increase in the +number of Japanese emigrating to Korea, Manchuria and S. America. The +following table shows the numbers residing at various places outside +Japan in 1904 and 1906 respectively:-- + + Number in Number in + Place. 1904. 1906. + + China 9,417 27,126 + Korea 31,093 100,000 + Manchuria -- 43,823 + Hong-Kong 600 756 + Singapore 1,292 1,428 + British India 413 530 + Europe 183 697 + United States of America 33,849 130,228 + Canada 3,838 5,088 + Mexico 456 1,294 + S. America 1,496 2,500 + Philippines 2,652 2,185 + Hawaii 65,008 64,319 + Australasia 71,129 3,274 + +_Foreign Residents._--The number of foreigners residing in Japan and +their nationalities in 1889, 1899 and 1906, respectively, were as +follow:-- + + 1889. 1899. 1906. + + Americans 899 1,296 1,650 + British 1,701 2,013 2,155 + Russians 63 134 211 + French 335 463 540 + Portuguese 108 158 165 + Germans 550 532 670 + Chinese 4,975 6,372 12,425 + Koreans 8 188 254 + +There are also small numbers of Dutch, Peruvians, Belgians, Swiss, +Italians, Danes, Swedes, Austrians, Hungarians, &c. This slow growth of +the foreign residents is remarkable when contrasted with the fact that +the volume of the country's foreign trade, which constitutes their main +business, grew in the same period from 13½ millions sterling to 92 +millions. + +_Posts and Telegraphs._--The government of the Restoration did not wait +for the complete abolition of feudalism before organizing a new system +of posts in accordance with modern needs. At first, letters only were +carried, but before the close of 1871 the service was extended so as to +include newspapers, printed matter, books and commercial samples, while +the area was extended so as to embrace all important towns between +Hakodate in the northern island of Yezo and Nagasaki in the southern +island of Kiushiu. Two years later this field was closed to private +enterprise, the state assuming sole charge of the business. A few years +later saw Japan in possession of an organization comparable in every +respect with the systems existing in Europe. In 1892 a foreign service +was added. Whereas in 1871 the number of post-offices throughout the +empire was only 179, it had grown to 6449 in 1907, while the mail matter +sent during the latter year totalled 1254 millions (including 15 +millions of parcels), and 67,000 persons were engaged in handling it. +Japan labours under special difficulties for postal purposes, owing to +the great number of islands included in the empire, the exceptionally +mountainous nature of the country, and the wide areas covered by the +cities in proportion to the number of their inhabitants. It is not +surprising to find, therefore, that the means of distribution are +varied. The state derives a net revenue of 5 million _yen_ approximately +from its postal service. It need scarcely be added that the system of +postal money-orders was developed _pari passu_ with that of ordinary +correspondence, but in this context one interesting fact may be noted, +namely, that while Japan sends abroad only some £25,000 annually to +foreign countries through the post, she receives over £450,000 from her +over-sea emigrants. + + + Postal Savings Bank. + + Japan at the time of the Restoration (1867) was not entirely without + experience which prepared her for the postal money-order system. Some + 600 years ago the idea of the bill of exchange was born in the little + town of Totsugawa (Yamato province), though it did not obtain much + development before the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate in the + 17th century. The feudal chiefs, having then to transmit large sums to + Yedo for the purposes of their compulsory residence there, availed + themselves of bills of exchange, and the shogun's government, which + received considerable amounts in Osaka, selected ten brokers to whom + the duty of effecting the transfer of these funds was entrusted. + Subsequently the 10 chosen brokers were permitted to extend their + services to the general public, and a recent Japanese historian notes + that Osaka thus became the birthplace of banking business in Japan. + Postal money-orders were therefore easily appreciated at the time of + their introduction in 1875. This was not true of the postal savings + bank, however, an institution which came into existence in the same + year. It was altogether a novel idea that the public at large, + especially the lower sections of it, should entrust their savings to + the government for safe keeping, especially as the minimum and maximum + deposited at one time were fixed at such petty sums as 10 _sen_ (2¼d.) + and 50 _sen_ (1s.), respectively. Indeed, in the circumstances, the + fact that £1500 was deposited in the first year must be regarded as + notable. Subsequently deposits were taken in postage stamps, and + arrangements were effected for enabling depositors to pay money to + distant creditors through the bank by merely stating the destination + and the amount of the nearest post office. In 1908 the number of + depositors in the post office savings bank was 8217, and their + deposits exceeded 10 millions sterling. Thirty per cent. of the + depositors belonged to the agricultural classes, 13 to the commercial + and only 6 to the industrial. + + + Telegraphs. + + Rapid communication by means of beacons was not unknown in ancient + Japan, but code-signalling by the aid of flags was not introduced + until the 17th century and was probably suggested by observing the + practice of foreign merchantmen. Its use, however, was peculiar. The + central office stood at Osaka, between which city and many of the + principal provincial towns rudely constructed towers were placed at + long distances, and from one to another of these intelligence as to + the market price of rice was flashed by flag-shaking, the signals + being read with telescopes. The Japanese saw a telegraph for the first + time in 1854, when Commodore Perry presented a set of apparatus to the + shogun, and four years later the feudal chief of Satsuma (Shimazu + Nariakira) caused wires to be erected within the enclosure of his + castle. The true value of electric telegraphy was first demonstrated + to the Japanese in connexion with an insurrection in 1877, under the + leadership of Saigo, the favourite of this same Shimazu Nariakira. + Before that time, however, a line of telegraph had been put up between + Tokyo and Yokohama (18 m.) and a code of regulations had been enacted. + Sudden introduction to such a mysterious product of foreign science + created superstitious dread in the minds of a few of the lower orders, + and occasional attempts were made at the outset to wreck the wires. In + 1886 the postal and telegraph offices were amalgamated and both + systems underwent large development. Whereas the length of wires at + the end of the fourth year after the introduction of the system was + only 53 m., and the number of messages 20,000, these figures had grown + in 1907 to 95,623 and 25 millions, respectively. Several cables are + included in these latter figures, the longest being that to Formosa + (1229 m.). Wireless telegraphy began to come into general use in 1908, + when several vessels belonging to the principal steamship companies + were equipped with the apparatus. It had already been employed for + some years by the army and navy, especially during the war with + Russia, when the latter service installed a new system, the joint + invention of Captain Tonami of the navy, Professor S. Kimura of the + naval college and Mr M. Matsushiro of the department of + communications. The telegraph service in Japan barely pays the cost of + operating and maintenance. + + + Telephones. + + The introduction of the telephone into Japan took place in 1877, but + it served official purposes solely during 13 years, and even when + (1890) it was placed at the disposal of the general public its + utilities found at first few appreciators. But this apathy soon + yielded to a mood of eager employment, and the resources of the + government (which monopolized the enterprise) proved inadequate to + satisfy public demand. Automatic telephones were ultimately set up at + many places in the principal towns and along the most frequented + highways. The longest distance covered was from Tokyo to Osaka (348 + m.). In 1907 Japan had 140,440 m. of telephone wires, 262 exchanges, + 159 automatic telephones, and the approximate number of messages sent + was 160 millions. The telephone service pays a net revenue of about + £100,000 annually. + +_Agriculture._--The gross area of land in Japan--excluding Formosa and +Sakhalin--is 89,167,880 acres, of which 53,487,022 acres represent the +property of the crown, the state and the communes, the rest (35,680,868 +acres) being owned by private persons. Of the grand total the arable +lands represent 15,301,297 acres. With regard to the immense expanse +remaining unproductive, experts calculate that if all lands inclined at +less than 15° be considered cultivable, an area of 10,684,517 acres +remains to be reclaimed, though whether the result would repay the cost +is a question hitherto unanswered. The cultivated lands are thus +classified, namely, wet fields (called also paddy fields or rice lands), +6,871,437 acres; dry fields (or upland farms), 5,741,745 acres, and +others, 2,688,115 acres. + + + Rice. + + Paddy fields are to be seen in every valley or dell where farming is + practicable; they are divided into square, oblong or triangular plots + by grass-grown ridges a few inches in height and on an average a foot + in breadth--the rice being planted in the soft mud thus enclosed. + Narrow pathways intersect these rice-valleys at intervals, and + rivulets (generally flowing between low banks covered with clumps of + bamboo) feed ditches cut for purposes of irrigation. The fields are + generally kept under water to a depth of a few inches while the crops + are young, but are drained immediately before harvesting. They are + then dug up, and again flooded before the second crop is planted out. + The rising grounds which skirt the rice-land are tilled by the hoe, + and produce Indian corn, millet and edible roots. The well-wooded + slopes supply the peasants with timber and firewood. Thirty-six per + cent. of the rice-fields yield two crops yearly. The seed is sown in + small beds, and the seedlings are planted out in the fields after + attaining the height of about 4 in. The finest rice is produced in the + fertile plains watered by the Tone-gawa in the province of Shimosa, + but the grain of Kaga and of the two central provinces of Settsu and + Harima is also very good. + + + Sake. + + Not only does rice form the chief food of the Japanese but also the + national beverage, called sake, is brewed from it. In colour the best + sake resembles very pale sherry; the taste is rather acid. None but + the finest grain is used in its manufacture. Of sake there are many + varieties, from the best quality down to _shiro-zake_ or "white sake," + and the turbid sort, drunk only in the poorer districts, known as + _nigori-zake_; there is also a sweet sort, called _mirin_. + + The various cereal and other crops cultivated in Japan, the areas + devoted to them and the annual production are shown in the following + table:-- + + 1898. 1902. 1906. + Acres. Acres. Acres. + + Rice 7,044,060 7,117,990 7,246,982 + Barley 1,649,240 1,613,270 1,674,595 + Rye 1,703,410 1,688,635 1,752,095 + Wheat 1,164,020 1,210,435 1,107,967 + Millet 693,812 652,492 594,280 + Beans 1,503,395 1,488,600 1,478,345 + Buckwheat 450,100 414,375 402,575 + Rape-seed 377,070 392,612 352,807 + Potatoes 92,297 105,350 140,197 + Sweet Potatoes 668,130 693,427 717,620 + Cotton 100,720 51,750 24,165 + Hemp 62,970 42,227 34,845 + Indigo (leaf) 122,180 92,982 40,910 + + 1903. 1905. 1906. + + Sugar Cane 41,750 43,308 45,087 + + It is observable that no marked increase is taking place in the area + under cultivation, and that the business of growing cotton, hemp and + indigo is gradually diminishing, these staples being supplied from + abroad. In Germany and Italy the annual additions made to the arable + area average 8% whereas in Japan the figure is only 5%. Moreover, of + the latter amount the rate for paddy fields is only 3.3% against 7.9% + in the case of upland farms. This means that the population is rapidly + outgrowing its supply of home-produced rice, the great food-stuff of + the nation, and the price of that cereal consequently shows a steady + tendency to appreciate. Thus whereas the market value was 5s. 5d. per + bushel in 1901, it rose to 6s. 9d. in 1906. + + + Silk and Tea. + + Scarcely less important to Japan than the cereals she raises are her + silk and tea, both of which find markets abroad. Her production of the + latter staple does not show any sign of marked development, for though + tea is almost as essential an article of diet in Japan as rice, its + foreign consumers are practically limited to the United States and + their demand does not increase. The figures for the 10-year period + ended 1906 are as follow:-- + + Area under cultivation Tea produced + (acres). (lb. av.). + + 1897 147,230 70,063,076 + 1901 122,120 57,975,486 + 1906 126,125 58,279,286 + + Sericulture, on the contrary, shows steady development year by year. + The demand of European and American markets has very elastic limits, + and if Japanese growers are content with moderate, but still + substantial, gains they can find an almost unrestricted sale in the + West. The development from 1886 to 1906 was as follows:-- + + Raw silk produced + yearly (lb.). + + Average from 1886 to 1889 8,739,273 + 1895 19,087,310 + 1900 20,705,644 + 1905 21,630,829 + 1906 24,215,324 + + The chief silk-producing prefectures in Japan, according to the order + of production, are Nagano, Gumma, Yamanashi, Fukushima, Aichi and + Saitama. At the close of 1906 there were 3843 filatures throughout the + country, and the number of families engaged in sericulture was + 397,885. + + Lacquer, vegetable wax and tobacco are also important staples of + production. The figures for the ten-year period, 1897 to 1906, are as + follow:-- + + Lacquer Vegetable Tobacco + (lb.). wax (lb.). (lb.). + + 1897 344,267 25,850,790 110,572,925 + 1906 668,266 39,714,661 101,718,592 + + While the quantity of certain products increases, the number of + filatures and factories diminishes, the inference being that + industries are coming to be conducted on a larger scale than was + formerly the case. Thus in sericulture the filatures diminished from + 4723 in 1897 to 3843 in 1906; the number of lacquer factories from + 1637 to 1123 at the same dates, and the number of wax factories from + 2619 to 1929. + + + Agricultural Improvements. + + It is generally said that whereas more than 60% of Japan's entire + population is engaged in agriculture, she remains far behind the + progressive nations of Europe in the application of scientific + principles to farming. Nevertheless if we take for unit the average + value of the yield per hectare in Italy, we obtain the following + figures:-- + + Yield per hectare + + Italy 100 + India 51 + Germany 121 + France 122 + Egypt 153 + Japan 213 + + In the realm of agriculture, as in all departments of modern Japan's + material development, abundant traces are found of official activity. + Thus, in the year 1900, the government enacted laws designed to + correct the excessive subdivision of farmers' holdings; to utilize + unproductive areas lying between cultivated fields; to straighten + roads; to facilitate irrigation; to promote the use of machinery; to + make known the value of artificial fertilizers; to conserve streams + and to prevent inundations. Further, in order to furnish capital for + the purposes of farming, 46 agricultural and commercial banks--one in + each prefecture--were established with a central institution called + the hypothec bank which assists them to collect funds. A Hokkaido + colonial bank and subsequently a bank of Formosa were also organized, + and a law was framed to encourage the formation of co-operative + societies which should develop a system of credit, assist the business + of sale and purchase and concentrate small capitals. Experimental + stations were another official creation. Their functions were to carry + on investigations relating to seeds, diseases of cereals, insect + pests, stock-breeding, the use of implements, the manufacture of + agricultural products and cognate matters. Encouragement by grants in + aid was also given to the establishment of similar experimental farms + by private persons in the various prefectures, and such farms are now + to be found everywhere. This official initiative, with equally + successful results, extended to the domain of sericulture and + tea-growing. There are two state sericultural training institutions + where not only the rearing of silk-worms and the management of + filatures are taught, but also experiments are made; and these + institutions, like the state agricultural stations, have served as + models for institutes on the same lines under private auspices. A + silk-conditioning house at Yokohama; experimental tea-farms; laws to + prevent and remove diseases of plants, cereals, silk-worms and cattle, + and regulations to check dishonesty in the matter of fertilizers, + complete the record of official efforts in the realm of agriculture + during the Meiji era. + + + Stockbreeding. + + One of the problems of modern Japan is the supply of cattle. With a + rapidly growing taste for beef--which, in former days, was not an + article of diet--there is a slow but steady diminution in the stock of + cattle. Thus while the number of the latter in 1897 was 1,214,163, out + of which total 158,504 were slaughtered, the corresponding figures in + 1906 were 1,190,373 and 167,458, respectively. The stock of sheep + (3500 in 1906) increases slowly, and the stocks of goats (58,694 in + 1897 and 74,750 in 1906) and swine (206,217 in 1897 and 284,708 in + 1906) grow with somewhat greater rapidity, but mutton and pork do not + suit Japanese taste, and goats are kept mainly for the sake of their + milk. The government has done much towards the improvement of cattle + and horses by importing bulls and sires, but, on the whole, the mixed + breed is not a success, and the war with Russia in 1904-5 having + clearly disclosed a pressing need of heavier horses for artillery and + cavalry purposes, large importations of Australian, American and + European cattle are now made, and the organization of race-clubs has + been encouraged throughout the country. + + _Forests._--Forests occupy an area of 55 millions of acres, or 60% of + the total superficies of Japan, and one-third of that expanse, namely, + 18 million acres, approximately, is the property of the state. It + cannot be said that any very practical attempt has yet been made to + develop this source of wealth. The receipts from forests stood at only + 13 million _yen_ in the budget for 1907-1908, and even that figure + compares favourably with the revenue of only 3 millions derived from + the same source in the fiscal year 1904-1905. This failure to utilize + a valuable asset is chiefly due to defective communications, but the + demand for timber has already begun to increase. In 1907 a revised + forestry law was promulgated, according to which the administration is + competent to prevent the destruction of forests and to cause the + planting of plains and waste-lands, or the re-planting of denuded + areas. A plan was also elaborated for systematically turning the state + forests to valuable account, while, at the same time, providing for + their conservation. + + _Fisheries._--From ancient times the Japanese have been great + fishermen. The seas that encircle their many-coasted islands teem with + fish and aquatic products, which have always constituted an essential + article of diet. Early in the 18th century, the Tokugawa + administration, in pursuance of a policy of isolation, interdicted the + construction of ocean-going ships, and the people's enterprise in the + matter of deep-sea fishing suffered a severe check. But shortly after + the Restoration in 1867, not only was this veto rescinded, but also + the government, organizing a marine bureau and a marine products + examination office, took vigorous measures to promote pelagic + industry. Then followed the formation of the marine products + association under the presidency of an imperial prince. Fishery + training schools were the next step; then periodical exhibitions of + fishery and marine products; then the introduction and improvement of + fishing implements; and then by rapid strides the area of operations + widened until Japanese fishing boats of improved types came to be seen + in Australasia, in Canada, in the seas of Sakhalin, the Maritime + Province, Korea and China; in the waters of Kamchatka and in the Sea + of Okhotsk. No less than 9000 fishermen with 2000 boats capture yearly + about £300,000 worth of fish in Korean waters; at least 8000 find a + plentiful livelihood off the coasts of Sakhalin and Siberia, and 200 + Japanese boats engage in the salmon-fishing of the Fraser River. In + 1893, the total value of Japanese marine products and fish captured + did not exceed 1¼ millions sterling, whereas in 1906 the figure had + grown to 5½ millions, to which must be added 3{1/8} millions of + manufactured marine products. Fourteen kinds of fish represent more + than 50% of the whole catch, namely, (in the order of their + importance) bonito (_katsuo_), sardines (_iwashi_), pagrus (_toi_), + cuttle-fish and squid (_tako_ and _ika_), mackerel (_saba_), yellow + tail (_buri_), tunny-fish (_maguro_), prawns (_ebi_), sole (_karei_), + grey mullet (_bora_), eels (_unagi_), salmon (_shake_), sea-ear + (_awabi_) and carp (_koi_). Altogether 700 kinds of aquatic products + are known in Japan, and 400 of them constitute articles of diet. Among + manufactured aquatic products the chief are (in the order of their + importance) dried bonito, fish guano, dried cuttle-fish, dried and + boiled sardines, dried herring and dried prawns. The export of marine + products amounted to £900,000 in 1906 against £400,000 ten years + previously; China is the chief market. As for imports, they were + insignificant at the beginning of the Meiji era, but by degrees a + demand was created for salted fish, dried sardines (for fertilizing), + edible sea-weed, canned fish and turtle-shell, so that whereas the + total imports were only £1600 in 1868, they grew to over £400,000 in + 1906. + + _Minerals._--Crystalline schists form the axis of Japan. They run in a + general direction from south-west to north-east, with chains starting + east and west from Shikoku. On these schists rocks of every age are + superimposed, and amid these somewhat complicated geological + conditions numerous minerals occur. Precious stones, however, are not + found, though crystals of quartz and antimony as well as good + specimens of topaz and agate are not infrequent. + + + Gold. + + Gold occurs in quartz veins among schists, paleozoic or volcanic rocks + and in placers. The quantity obtained is not large, but it shows + tolerably steady development, and may possibly be much increased by + more generous use of capital and larger recourse to modern methods. + + + Silver. + + The value of the silver mined is approximately equal to that of the + gold. It is found chiefly in volcanic rocks (especially tuff), in the + form of sulphide, and it is usually associated with gold, copper, lead + or zinc. + + + Copper. + + Much more important in Japan's economics than either of the precious + metals is copper. Veins often showing a thickness of from 70 to 80 + ft., though of poor quality (2 to 8%), are found bedded in crystalline + schists or paleozoic sedimentary rocks, but the richest (10 to 30%) + occur in tuff and other volcanic rocks. + + + Iron. + + There have not yet been found any evidences that Japan is rich in iron + ores. Her largest known deposit (magnetite) occurs at Kamaishi in + Iwate prefecture, but the quantity of pig-iron produced from the ore + mined there does not exceed 37,000 tons annually, and Japan is obliged + to import from the neighbouring continent the greater part of the iron + needed by her for ship-building and armaments. + + + Coal. + + Considerable deposits of coal exist, both anthracite and bituminous. + The former, found chiefly at Amakusa, is not greatly inferior to the + Cardiff mineral; and the latter--obtained in abundance in Kiuushiu and + Yezo--is a brown coal of good medium quality. Altogether there are 29 + coal-fields now actually worked in Japan, and she obtained an + important addition to her sources of supply in the sequel to the war + with Russia, when the Fushun mines near Mukden, Manchuria, were + transferred to her. During the 10 years ending in 1906, the market + value of the coal mined in Japan grew from less than 2 millions + sterling to over 6 millions. + + + Petroleum. + + Petroleum also has of late sprung into prominence on the list of her + mineral products. The oil-bearing strata--which occur mainly in + tertiary rocks--extend from Yezo to Formosa, but the principal are in + Echigo, which yields the greater part of the petroleum now obtained, + the Yezo and Formosa wells being still little exploited, the quantity + of petroleum obtained in Japan in 1897 was 9 million gallons, whereas + the quantity obtained in 1906 was 55 millions. + + Japanese mining enterprise was more than trebled during the decade + 1897 to 1906, for the value of the minerals taken out in the former + year was only 3½ millions sterling, whereas the corresponding figure + for 1906 was 11 millions. The earliest mention of gold-mining in Japan + takes us back to the year A.D. 696, and by the 16th century the + country had acquired the reputation of being rich in gold. During the + days of her medieval intercourse with the outer world, her stores of + the precious metals were largely reduced, for between the years 1602 + and 1766, Holland, Spain, Portugal and China took from her 313,800 lb. + (troy) of gold and 11,230,000 lb. of silver. + + Copper occupied a scarcely less important place in Old Japan. From a + period long anterior to historic times this metal was employed to + manufacture mirrors and swords, and the introduction of Buddhism in + the 6th century was quickly followed by the casting of sacred images, + many of which still survive. Finding in the 18th century that her + foreign intercourse not only had largely denuded her of gold and + silver, but also threatened to denude her of copper, Japan set a limit + (3415 tons) to the yearly export of the latter metal. After the + resumption of administrative power by the emperor in 1867, attention + was quickly directed to the question of mineral resources; several + Western experts were employed to conduct surveys and introduce + Occidental mining methods, and ten of the most important mines were + worked under the direct auspices of the state in order to serve as + object lessons. Subsequently these mines were all transferred to + private hands, and the government now retains possession of only a few + iron and coal mines whose products are needed for dockyard and arsenal + purposes. The following table shows the recent progress and present + condition of mining industry in Japan:-- + + Gold Silver Copper Lead + + Quantity. Value. Quantity. Value. Quantity. Value. Quantity Value. + oz. £ oz. £ Tons. £ Tons. £ + + 1897 34,553 136,834 1,809,805 208,200 19,722 869,266 746 10,343 + 1901 82,517 330,076 1,824,842 211,682 26,495 1,625,244 1,744 24,640 + 1906 90,842 363,715 2,623,212 243,914 37,254 3,007,992 2,721 49,690 + + Iron Coal Petroleum Sulphur + + Quantity. Value. Quantity. Value. Quantity. Value. Quantity. Value. + Tons. £ Tons. £ Gallons. £ Tons. £ + + 1897 35,178 103,559 5,229,662 1,899,592 9,248,800 44,389 13,138 33,588 + 1901 46,456 123,701 9,025,325 3,060,931 39,351,960 227,841 16,007 38,612 + 1906 85,203 268,911 12,980,103 6,314,400 55,135,880 314,550 27,406 61,386 + + Antimony Manganese Others + + Quantity. Value. Quantity. Value. Value. Total Values. + Tons. £ Tons. £ £ £ + + 1897 1,133 27,362 13,175 8,758 3,863 3,345,662 + 1901 529 13,481 15,738 10,846 3,450 5,670,508 + 1906 293 22,862 12,322 51,365 41,338 10,839,783 + + The number of mine employees in 1907 was 190,000, in round numbers; + the number of mining companies, 189; and the aggregate paid-up + capital, 10 millions sterling. + +_Industries._--In the beginning of the Meiji era Japan was practically +without any manufacturing industries, as the term is understood in the +Occident, and she had not so much as one joint-stock company. At the end +of 1906, her joint-stock companies and partnerships totalled 9329, their +paid up capital exceeded 100 millions sterling, and their reserves +totalled 26 millions. It is not to be inferred, however, from the +absence of manufacturing organizations 50 years ago that such pursuits +were deliberately eschewed or despised in Japan. On the contrary, at the +very dawn of the historical epoch we find that sections of the people +took their names from the work carried on by them, and that specimens of +expert industry were preserved in the sovereign's palace side by side +with the imperial insignia. Further, skilled artisans from the +neighbouring continent always found a welcome in Japan, and when Korea +was successfully invaded in early times, one of the uses which the +victors made of their conquest was to import Korean weavers and dyers. +Subsequently the advent of Buddhism, with its demand for images, +temples, gorgeous vestments and rich paraphernalia, gave a marked +impulse to the development of artistic industry, which at the outset +took its models from China, India and Greece, but gradually, while +assimilating many of the best features of the continental schools, +subjected them to such great modifications in accordance with Japanese +genius that they ceased to retain more than a trace of their originals. +From the 9th century luxurious habits prevailed in Kioto under the sway +of the Fujiwara regents, and the imperial city's munificent patronage +drew to its precincts a crowd of artisans. But these were not +industrials, in the Western sense of the term, and, further, their +organization was essentially domestic, each family selecting its own +pursuit and following it from generation to generation without +co-operation or partnership with any outsider. The establishment of +military feudalism in the 12th century brought a reaction from the +effeminate luxury of the metropolis, and during nearly 300 years no +industry enjoyed large popularity except that of the armourer and the +sword-smith. No sooner, however, did the prowess of Oda Nobunaga and, +above all, of Hideyoshi, the taiko, bring within sight a cessation of +civil war and the unification of the country, than the taste for +beautiful objects and artistic utensils recovered vitality. By degrees +there grew up among the feudal barons a keen rivalry in art industry, +and the shogun's court in Yedo set a standard which the feudatories +constantly strove to attain. Ultimately, in the days immediately +antecedent to its fall, the shogun's administration sought to induce a +more logical system by encouraging local manufacturers to supply local +needs only, leaving to Kioto and Yedo the duty of catering to general +wants. + +But before this reform had approached maturity, the second advent of +Western nations introduced to Japan the products of an industrial +civilization centuries in advance of her own from the point of view of +utility, though nowise superior in the application of art. Immediately +the nation became alive to the necessity of correcting its own +inferiority in this respect. But the people being entirely without +models for organization, without financial machinery and without the +idea of joint stock enterprise, the government had to choose between +entering the field as an instructor, and leaving the nation to struggle +along an arduous and expensive way to tardy development. There could be +no question as to which course would conduce more to the general +advantage, and thus, in days immediately subsequent to the resumption of +administrative power by the emperor, the spectacle was seen of official +excursions into the domains of silk-reeling, cement-making, cotton and +silk spinning, brick-burning, printing and book-binding, soap-boiling, +type-casting and ceramic decoration, to say nothing of their +establishing colleges and schools where all branches of applied science +were taught. Domestic exhibitions also were organized, and specimens cf +the country's products and manufactures were sent under government +auspices to exhibitions abroad. On the other hand, the effect of this +new departure along Western lines could not but be injurious to the old +domestic industries of the country, especially to those which owed their +existence to tastes and traditions now regarded as obsolete. Here again +the government came to the rescue by establishing a firm whose functions +were to familiarize foreign markets with the products of Japanese +artisans, and to instruct the latter in adaptations likely to appeal to +Occidental taste. Steps were also taken for training women as artisans, +and the government printing bureau set the example of employing female +labour, an innovation which soon developed large dimensions. In short, +the authorities applied themselves to educate an industrial disposition +throughout the country, and as soon as success seemed to be in sight, +they gradually transferred from official to private direction the +various model enterprises, retaining only such as were required to +supply the needs of the state. + + The result of all this effort was that whereas, in the beginning of + the Meiji era, Japan had virtually no industries worthy of the name, + she possessed in 1896--that is to say, after an interval of 25 years + of effort--no less than 4595 industrial and commercial companies, + joint stock or partnership, with a paid-up capital of 40 millions + sterling. Her development during the decade ending in 1906 is shown in + the following table:-- + + Reserves + Number of Paid-up capital (millions + companies. (millions sterling). sterling). + + 1897 6,113 53 6 + 1901 8,602 83 12 + 1906 9,329 107 26 + + What effect this development exercised upon the country's over-sea + trade may be inferred from the fact that, whereas the manufactured + goods exported in 1870 were nil, their value in 1901 was 8 millions + sterling, and in 1906 the figure rose to over 20 millions. In the + following table are given some facts relating to the principal + industries in which foreign markets are interested:-- + + COTTON YARNS + + +------+----------+---------------+-------------+-------------------------+ + | | | Operatives. | Quantity | | + | | Spindles.+-------+-------+ produced. | Remarks. | + | | | Male. |Female.| | | + +------+----------+-------+-------+-------------+-------------------------+ + | | | | | lb. | This is a wholly new | + | 1897 | 768,328 | 9,933 |35,059 | 216,913,196 | had industry in Japan. | + | 1901 |1,181,762 |13,481 |49,540 | 274,861,380 | It no existence before | + | 1906 |1,425,406 |13,032 |59,281 | 383,359,113 | the Meiji era. | + +------+----------+-------+-------+-------------+-------------------------+ + + WOVEN GOODS + + +------+--------+----------------+------------+--------------------------+ + | | | Operatives. | Market | | + | | Looms. +----------------+ value of | Remarks. | + | | | Male. |Female. | products. | | + +------+--------+-------+--------+------------+--------------------------+ + | | | | | Millions | It is observable that a | + | | | | | sterling. | decrease in the number of| + | 1897 |947,134 |54,119 |987,110 | 19 | operatives is concurrent | + | 1901 |719,550 |43,172 |747,946 | 24 | with an increase of | + | 1906 |736,828 |40,886 |751,605 | 36 | production. | + +------+--------+-------+--------+------------+--------------------------+ + + MATCHES + + +------+--------+---------------+-----------+----------+-----------------------+ + | |Families| Operatives. | Quantity | Value. | | + | |engaged.+-------+-------+ produced. | | Remarks. | + | | | Male. |Female.| | | | + +------+--------+-------+-------+-----------+----------+-----------------------+ + | | | | | Gross. | £ | This is an altogether | + | 1897 | 269 |21,447 |26,277 |24,038,960 | 654,849 | new industry. Japanese| + | 1901 | 261 | 5,656 |16,504 |32,901,319 | 926,689 | matches now hold the | + | 1906 | 250 | 5,468 |18,721 |54,802,293 |1,551,698 | leading place in all | + | | | | | | | Far-Eastern markets. | + +------+--------+-------+-------+-----------+----------+-----------------------+ + + FOREIGN PAPER (as distinguished from Japanese) + + +------+----------+-------+-------+------------+----------+--------------------+ + | | | Operatives. | Quantity | | | + | |Factories.+-------+-------+ produced. | Value. | Remarks. | + | | | Male. |Female.| | | | + +------+----------+-------+-------+------------+----------+--------------------+ + | | | | | lb. | £ | Had not Japanese | + | 1897 | 9 | 164 | 109 | 46,256,649 | 300,662 | factories been | + | 1901 | 13 | 2,635 | 1,397 |113,348,340 | 714,094 | established all | + | 1906 | 22 | 3,774 | 1,778 |218,022,434 |1,415,778 | this paper must | + | | | | | | | have been imported.| | + +------+----------+-------+-------+------------+----------+--------------------+ + + In the field of what may be called minor manufactures--as ceramic + wares, lacquers, straw-plaits, &c.--there has been corresponding + growth, for the value of these productions increased from 1¼ millions + sterling in 1897 to 3½ millions in 1906. But as these manufactures do + not enter into competition with foreign goods in either Eastern or + Western markets, they are interesting only as showing the development + of Japan's producing power. They contribute nothing to the solution of + the problem whether Japanese industries are destined ultimately to + drive their foreign rivals from the markets of Asia, if not to compete + injuriously with them even in Europe and America. Japan seems to have + one great advantage over Occidental countries: she possesses an + abundance of dexterous and exceptionally cheap labour. It has been + said, indeed, that this latter advantage is not likely to be + permanent, since the wages of labour and the cost of living are fast + increasing. The average cost of labour doubled in the interval between + 1895 and 1906, but, on the other hand, the number of manufacturing + organizations doubled in the same time, while the amount of their + paid-up capital nearly trebled. As to the necessaries of life, if + those specially affected by government monopolies be excluded, the + rate of appreciation between 1900 and 1906 averaged about 30%, and it + thus appears that the cost of living is not increasing with the same + rapidity as the remuneration earned by labour. The manufacturing + progress of the nation seems, therefore, to have a bright future, the + only serious impediment being deficient capital. There is abundance of + coal, and steps have been taken on a large scale to utilize the many + excellent opportunities which the country offers for developing + electricity by water-power. + + + Silk-weaving + + The fact that Japan's exports of raw silk amount to more than 12 + millions sterling, while she sends over-sea only 3½ millions' worth of + silk fabrics, suggests some marked inferiority on the part of her + weavers. But the true explanation seems to be that her distance from + the Occident handicaps her in catering for the changing fashions of + the West. There cannot be any doubt that the skill of Japanese weavers + was at one time eminent. The sun goddess herself, the predominant + figure in the Japanese pantheon, is said to have practised weaving; + the names of four varieties of woven fabrics were known in prehistoric + times; the 3rd century of the Christian era saw the arrival of a + Korean maker of cloth; after him came an influx of Chinese who were + distributed throughout the country to improve the arts of sericulture + and silk-weaving; a sovereign (Yuriaku) of the 5th century employed 92 + groups of naturalized Chinese for similar purposes; in 421 the same + emperor issued a decree encouraging the culture of mulberry trees and + calling for taxes on silk and cotton; the manufacture of textiles was + directly supervised by the consort of this sovereign; in 645 a bureau + of weaving was established; many other evidences are conclusive as to + the great antiquity of the art of silk and cotton weaving in Japan. + + The coming of Buddhism in the 6th century contributed not a little to + the development of the art, since not only did the priests require for + their own vestments and for the decoration of temples silken fabrics + of more and more gorgeous description, but also these holy men + themselves, careful always to keep touch with the continental + developments of their faith, made frequent voyages to China, whence + they brought back to Japan a knowledge of whatever technical or + artistic improvements the Middle Kingdom could show. When Kioto became + the permanent metropolis of the empire, at the close of the 8th + century, a bureau was established for weaving brocades and rich silk + stuffs to be used in the palace. This preluded an era of some three + centuries of steadily developing luxury in Kioto; an era when an + essential part of every aristocratic mansion's furniture was a + collection of magnificent silk robes for use in the sumptuous _No_. + Then, in the 15th century came the "Tea Ceremonial," when the brocade + mountings of a picture or the wrapper of a tiny tea-jar possessed an + almost incredible value, and such skill was attained by weavers and + dyers that even fragments of the fabrics produced by them command + extravagant prices to-day. Kioto always remained, and still remains, + the chief producing centre, and to such a degree has the science of + colour been developed there that no less than 4000 varieties of tint + are distinguished. The sense of colour, indeed, seems to have been a + special endowment of the Japanese people from the earliest times, and + some of the combinations handed down from medieval times are treasured + as incomparable examples. During the long era of peace under the + Tokugawa administration the costumes of men and women showed an + increasing tendency to richness and beauty. This culminated in the + Genroku epoch (1688-1700), and the aristocracy of the present day + delight in viewing histrionic performances where the costumes of that + age and of its rival, the Momoyama (end of the 16th century) are + reproduced. + + It would be possible to draw up a formidable catalogue of the various + kinds of silk fabrics manufactured in Japan before the opening of the + Meiji era, and the signal ability of her weavers has derived a new + impulse from contact with the Occident. Machinery has been largely + introduced, and though the products of hand-looms still enjoy the + reputation of greater durability, there has unquestionably been a + marked development of producing power. Japanese looms now turn out + about 17 millions sterling of silk textiles, of which less than 4 + millions go abroad. Nor is increased quantity alone to be noted, for + at the factory of Kawashima in Kioto Gobelins are produced such as + have never been rivalled elsewhere. + +_Commerce in Tokugawa Times._--The conditions existing in Japan during +the two hundred and fifty years prefatory to the modern opening of the +country were unfavourable to the development alike of national and of +international trade. As to the former, the system of feudal government +exercised a crippling influence, for each feudal chief endeavoured to +check the exit of any kind of property from his fief, and free +interchange of commodities was thus prevented so effectually that cases +are recorded of one feudatory's subjects dying of starvation while those +of an adjoining fief enjoyed abundance. International commerce, on the +other hand, lay under the veto of the central government, which punished +with death anyone attempting to hold intercourse with foreigners. Thus +the fiefs practised a policy of mutual seclusion at home, and united to +maintain a policy of general seclusion abroad. Yet it was under the +feudal system that the most signal development of Japanese trade took +place, and since the processes of that development have much historical +interest they invite close attention. + + As the bulk of a feudal chief's income was paid in rice, arrangements + had to be made for sending the grain to market and transmitting its + proceeds. This was effected originally by establishing in Osaka stores + (_kura-yashiki_), under the charge of samurai, who received the rice, + sold it to merchants in that city and remitted the proceeds by + official carriers. But from the middle of the 17th century these + stores were placed in the charge of tradesmen to whom was given the + name of _kake-ya_ (agent). They disposed of the products entrusted to + them by a fief and held the money, sending it by monthly instalments + to an appointed place, rendering yearly accounts and receiving + commission at the rate of from 2 to 4%. They had no special licence, + but they were honourably regarded and often distinguished by an + official title or an hereditary pension. In fact a kake-ya, of such + standing as the Mitsui and the Konoike families, was, in effect, a + banker charged with the finances of several fiefs. In Osaka the method + of sale was uniform. Tenders were invited, and these having been + opened in the presence of all the store officials and kake-ya, the + successful tenderers had to deposit bargain-money, paying the + remainder within ten days, and thereafter becoming entitled to take + delivery of the rice in whole or by instalments within a certain time, + no fee being charged for storage. A similar system existed in Yedo, + the shogun's capital. Out of the custom of deferred delivery developed + the establishment of exchanges where advances were made against sale + certificates, and purely speculative transactions came into vogue. + There followed an experience common enough in the West at one time: + public opinion rebelled against these transactions in margins on the + ground that they tended to enhance the price of rice. Several of the + brokers were arrested and brought to trial; marginal dealings were + thenceforth forbidden, and a system of licences was inaugurated in + Yedo, the number of licensed dealers[7] being restricted to 108. + + The system of organized trading companies had its origin in the 12th + century, when, the number of merchants admitted within the confines of + Yedo being restricted, it became necessary for those not obtaining + that privilege to establish some mode of co-operation, and there + resulted the formation of companies with representatives stationed in + the feudal capital and share-holding members in the provinces. The + Ashikaga shoguns developed this restriction by selling to the highest + bidder the exclusive right of engaging in a particular trade, and the + Tokugawa administration had recourse to the same practice. But whereas + the monopolies instituted by the Ashikaga had for sole object the + enrichment of the exchequer, the Tokugawa regarded it chiefly as a + means of obtaining worthy representatives in each branch of trade. The + first licences were issued in Yedo to keepers of bath-houses in the + middle of the 17th century. As the city grew in dimensions these + licences increased in value, so that pawnbrokers willingly accepted + them in pledge for loans. Subsequently almanack-sellers were obliged + to take out licences, and the system was afterwards extended to + money-changers. + + It was to the fishmongers, however, that the advantages of commercial + organization first presented themselves vividly. The greatest + fish-market in Japan is at Nihon-bashi in Tokyo (formerly Yedo). It + had its origin in the needs of the Tokugawa court. When Iyeyasu + (founder of the Tokugawa dynasty) entered Yedo in 1590, his train was + followed by some fishermen of Settsu, to whom he granted the privilege + of plying their trade in the adjacent seas, on condition that they + furnished a supply of their best fish for the use of the garrison. The + remainder they offered for sale at Nihon-bashi. Early in the 17th + century one Sukegoro of Yamato province (hence called Yamato-ya) went + to Yedo and organized the fishmongers into a great gild. Nothing is + recorded about this man's antecedents, though his mercantile genius + entitles him to historical notice. He contracted for the sale of all + the fish obtained in the neighbouring seas, advanced money to the + fishermen on the security of their catch, constructed preserves for + keeping the fish alive until they were exposed in the market, and + enrolled all the dealers in a confederation which ultimately consisted + of 391 wholesale merchants and 246 brokers. The main purpose of + Sukegoro's system was to prevent the consumer from dealing direct with + the producer. Thus in return for the pecuniary accommodation granted + to fishermen to buy boats and nets they were required to give every + fish they caught to the wholesale merchant from whom they had received + the advance; and the latter, on his side, had to sell in the open + market at prices fixed by the confederation. A somewhat similar system + applied to vegetables, though in this case the monopoly was never so + close. + + It will be observed that this federation of fishmongers approximated + closely to a trust, as the term is now understood; that is to say, an + association of merchants engaged in the same branch of trade and + pledged to observe certain rules in the conduct of their business as + well as to adhere to fixed rates. The idea was extended to nearly + every trade, 10 monster confederations being organized in Yedo and 24 + in Osaka. These received official recognition, and contributed a sum + to the exchequer under the euphonious name of "benefit money," + amounting to nearly £20,000 annually. They attained a high state of + prosperity, the whole of the cities' supplies passing through their + hands.[8] No member of a confederation was permitted to dispose of his + licence except to a near relative, and if anyone not on the roll of a + confederation engaged in the same business he became liable to + punishment at the hands of the officials. In spite of the limits thus + imposed on the transfer of licences, one of these documents commanded + from £80 to £6,400, and in the beginning of the 19th century the + confederations, or gilds, had increased to 68 in Yedo, comprising 1195 + merchants. The gild system extended to maritime enterprise also. In + the beginning of the 17th century a merchant of Sakai (near Osaka) + established a junk service between Osaka and Yedo, but this kind of + business did not attain any considerable development until the close + of that century, when 10 gilds of Yedo and 24 of Osaka combined to + organize a marine-transport company for the purpose of conveying their + own merchandise. Here also the principle of monopoly was strictly + observed, no goods being shipped for unaffiliated merchants. This + carrying trade rapidly assumed large dimensions. The number of junks + entering Yedo rose to over 1500 yearly. They raced from port to port, + just as tea-clippers from China to Europe used to race in recent + times, and troubles incidental to their rivalry became so serious that + it was found necessary to enact stringent rules. Each junk-master had + to subscribe a written oath that he would comply strictly with the + regulations and observe the sequence of sailing as determined by lot. + The junks had to call _en route_ at Uraga for the purpose of + undergoing official examination. The order of their arrival there was + duly registered, and the master making the best record throughout the + year received a present in money as well as a complimentary garment, + and became the shippers' favourite next season. + + Operations relating to the currency also were brought under the + control of gilds. The business of money-changing seems to have been + taken up as a profession from the beginning of the 15th century, but + it was then in the hands of pedlars who carried strings of copper cash + which they exchanged for gold or silver coins, then in rare + circulation, or for parcels of gold dust. From the early part of the + 17th century exchanges were opened in Yedo, and in 1718 the men + engaged in this business formed a gild after the fashion of the time. + Six hundred of these received licences, and no unlicensed person was + permitted to purchase the avocation. Four representatives of the chief + exchange met daily and fixed the ratio between gold and silver, the + figure being then communicated to the various exchanges and to the + shogun's officials. As for the prices of gold or silver in terms of + copper or bank-notes, 24 representatives of the exchanges met every + evening, and, in the presence of an official censor, settled the + figure for the following day and recorded the amount of transactions + during the past 24 hours, full information on these points being at + once sent to the city governors and the street elders. + + The exchanges in their ultimate form approximated very closely to the + Occidental idea of banks. They not only bought gold, silver and copper + coins, but they also received money on deposit, made loans and issued + vouchers which played a very important part in commercial + transactions. The voucher seems to have come into existence in Japan + in the 14th century. It originated in the Yoshino market of Yamato + province, where the hilly nature of the district rendered the carriage + of copper money so arduous that rich merchants began to substitute + written receipts and engagements which quickly became current. Among + these documents there was a "joint voucher" (_kumiai-fuda_), signed by + several persons, any one of whom might be held responsible for its + redemption. This had large vogue, but it did not obtain official + recognition until 1636, when the third Tokugawa shogun selected 30 + substantial merchants and divided them into 3 gilds, each authorized + to issue vouchers, provided that a certain sum was deposited by way of + security. Such vouchers were obviously a form of bank-note. Their + circulation by the exchange came about in a similar manner. During + many years the treasure of the shogun and of the feudal chiefs was + carried to Yedo by pack-horses and coolies of the regular postal + service. But the costliness of such a method led to the selection in + 1691 of 10 exchange agents who were appointed bankers to the Tokugawa + government and were required to furnish money within 30 days of the + date of an order drawn on them. These agents went by the name of the + "ten-men gild." Subsequently the firm of Mitsui was added, but it + enjoyed the special privilege of being allowed 150 days to collect a + specified amount. The gild received moneys on account of the Tokugawa + or the feudal chiefs at provincial centres, and then made its own + arrangements for cashing the cheques drawn upon it by the shogun or + the daimyo in Yedo. If coin happened to be immediately available, it + was employed to cash the cheques; otherwise the vouchers of the gild + served instead. It was in Osaka, however, that the functions of the + exchanges acquired fullest development. That city has exhibited, in + all eras, a remarkable aptitude for trade. Its merchants, as already + shown, were not only entrusted with the duty of selling the rice and + other products of the surrounding fiefs, but also they became + depositories of the proceeds, which they paid out on account of the + owners in whatever sums the latter desired. Such an evidence of + official confidence greatly strengthened their credit, and they + received further encouragement from the second Tokugawa shogun + (1605-1623)and from Ishimaru Sadatsugu, governor of the city in 1661. + He fostered wholesale transactions, sought to introduce a large + element of credit into commerce by instituting a system of credit + sales; took measures to promote the circulation of cheques; + inaugurated market sales of gold and silver and appointed ten chiefs + of exchange who were empowered to oversee the business of + money-exchanging in general. These ten received exemption from + municipal taxation and were permitted to wear swords. Under them were + 22 exchanges forming a gild, whose members agreed to honour one + another's vouchers and mutually to facilitate business. Gradually they + elaborated a regular system of banking, so that, in the middle of the + 18th century, they issued various descriptions of paper-orders for + fixed sums payable at certain places within fixed periods; deposit + notes redeemable on the demand of an indicated person or his order; + bills of exchange drawn by _A_ upon _B_ in favour of _C_ (a common + form for use in monthly or annual settlements); promissory notes to be + paid at a future time, or cheques payable at sight, for goods + purchased; and storage orders engaging to deliver goods on account of + which earnest money had been paid. These last, much employed in + transactions relating to rice and sugar, were generally valid for a + period of 3 years and 3 months, were signed by a confederation of + exchanges or merchants on joint responsibility, and guaranteed the + delivery of the indicated merchandise independently of all accidents. + They passed current as readily as coin, and advances could always be + obtained against them from pawnbrokers. + + All these documents, indicating a well-developed system of credit, + were duly protected by law, severe penalties being inflicted for any + failure to implement the pledges they embodied. The merchants of Yedo + and Osaka, working on the system of trusts here described, gradually + acquired great wealth and fell into habits of marked luxury. It is + recorded that they did not hesitate to pay £5 for the first bonito of + the season and £11 for the first egg-fruit. Naturally the spectacle of + such extravagance excited popular discontent. Men began to grumble + against the so-called "official merchants" who, under government + auspices, monopolized every branch of trade; and this feeling grew + almost uncontrollable in 1836, when rice rose to an unprecedented + price owing to crop failure. Men loudly ascribed that state of affairs + to regrating on the part of the wholesale companies, and murmurs + similar to those raised at the close of the 19th century in America + against the trust system began to reach the ears of the authorities + perpetually. The celebrated Fujita Toko of Mito took up the question. + He argued that the monopoly system, since it included Osaka, exposed + the Yedo market to all the vicissitudes of the former city, which had + then lost much of its old prosperity. + + Finally, in 1841, the shogun's chief minister, Mizuno Echizen-no-Kami, + withdrew all trading licences, dissolved the gilds and proclaimed that + every person should thenceforth be free to engage in any commerce + without let or hindrance. This recklessly drastic measure, vividly + illustrating the arbitrariness of feudal officialdom, not only + included the commercial gilds, the shipping gilds, the exchange gilds + and the land transport gilds, but was also carried to the length of + forbidding any company to confine itself to wholesale dealings. The + authorities further declared that in times of scarcity wholesale + transactions must be abandoned altogether and retail business alone + carried on, their purpose being to bring retail and wholesale prices + to the same level. The custom of advancing money to fishermen or to + producers in the provincial districts was interdicted; even the + fuda-sashi might no longer ply their calling, and neither bath-house + keepers nor hairdressers were allowed to combine for the purpose of + adopting uniform rates of charges. But this ill-judged interference + produced evils greater than those it was intended to remedy. The gilds + had not really been exacting. Their organization had reduced the cost + of distribution, and they had provided facilities of transport which + brought produce within quick and cheap reach of central markets. + + Ten years' experience showed that a modified form of the old system + would conduce to public interests. The gilds were re-established, + licence fees, however, being abolished, and no limit set to the + number of firms in a gild. Things remained thus until the beginning of + the Meiji era (1867), when the gilds shared the cataclysm that + overtook all the country's old institutions. + + Japanese commercial and industrial life presents another feature which + seems to suggest special aptitude for combination. In mercantile or + manufacturing families, while the eldest son always succeeded to his + father's business, not only the younger sons but also the apprentices + and employees, after they had served faithfully for a number of years, + expected to be set up as branch houses under the auspices of the + principal family, receiving a place of business, a certain amount of + capital and the privilege of using the original house-name. Many an + old-established firm thus came to have a plexus of branches all + serving to extend its business and strengthen its credit, so that the + group held a commanding position in the business world. It will be + apparent from the above that commercial transactions on a large scale + in pre-Meiji days were practically limited to the two great cities of + Yedo and Osaka, the people in the provincial fiefs having no direct + association with the gild system, confining themselves, for the most + part, to domestic industries on a small scale, and not being allowed + to extend their business beyond the boundaries of the fief to which + they belonged. + +_Foreign Commerce during the Meiji Era._--If Japan's industrial +development in modern times has been remarkable, the same may be said +even more emphatically about the development of her over-sea commerce. +This was checked at first not only by the unpopularity attaching to all +intercourse with outside nations, but also by embarrassments resulting +from the difference between the silver price of gold in Japan and its +silver price in Europe, the precious metals being connected in Japan by +a ratio of 1 to 8, and in Europe by a ratio of 1 to 15. This latter fact +was the cause of a sudden and violent appreciation of values; for the +government, seeing the country threatened with loss of all its gold, +tried to avert the catastrophe by altering and reducing the weights of +the silver coins without altering their denominations, and a +corresponding difference exhibited itself, as a matter of course, in the +silver quotations of commodities. Another difficulty was the attitude of +officialdom. During several centuries Japan's over-sea trade had been +under the control of officialdom, to whose coffers it contributed a +substantial revenue. But when the foreign exporter entered the field +under the conditions created by the new system, he diverted to his own +pocket the handsome profit previously accruing to the government; and +since the latter could not easily become reconciled to this loss of +revenue, or wean itself from its traditional habit of interference in +affairs of foreign commerce, and since the foreigner, on his side, not +only desired secrecy in order to prevent competition, but was also +tormented by inveterate suspicions of Oriental espionage, not a little +friction occurred from time to time. Thus the scanty records of that +early epoch suggest that trade was beset with great difficulties, and +that the foreigner had to contend against most adverse circumstances, +though in truth his gains amounted to 40 or 50%. + + + Tea and Silk. + +The chief staples of the early trade were tea and silk. It happened that +just before Japan's raw silk became available for export, the production +of that article in France and Tea and Italy had been largely curtailed +owing to a novel disease of the silkworm. Thus, when the first bales of +Japanese silk appeared in London, and when it was found to possess +qualities entitling it to the highest rank, a keen demand sprang up. +Japanese green tea also, differing radically in flavour and bouquet from +the black tea of China, appealed quickly to American taste, so that by +the year 1907 Japan found herself selling to foreign countries tea to +the extent of 1¼ millions sterling, and raw silk to the extent of 12¼ +millions. This remarkable development is typical of the general history +of Japan's foreign trade in modern times. Omitting the first decade and +a half, the statistics for which are imperfect, the volume of the trade +grew from 5 millions sterling in 1873--3 shillings per head of the +population--to 93 millions in 1907--or 38 shillings per head. It was not +a uniform growth. The period of 35 years divides itself conspicuously +into two eras: the first, of 15 years (1873-1887), during which the +development was from 5 millions to 9.7 millions, a ratio of 1 to 2, +approximately; the second, of 20 years (1887-1907), during which the +development was from 9.7 millions to 93 millions, a ratio of 1 to 10. + +That a commerce which scarcely doubled itself in the first fifteen years +should have grown nearly tenfold in the next twenty is a fact inviting +attention. There are two principal causes: one general, the other +special. The general cause was that several years necessarily elapsed +before the nation's material condition began to respond perceptibly to +the improvements effected by the Meiji government in matters of +administration, taxation and transport facilities. Fiscal burdens had +been reduced and security of life and property obtained, but railway +building and road-making, harbour construction, the growth of posts, +telegraphs, exchanges and banks, and the development of a mercantile +marine did not exercise a sensible influence on the nation's prosperity +until 1884 or 1885. From that time the country entered a period of +steadily growing prosperity, and from that time private enterprise may +be said to have finally started upon a career of independent activity. +The special cause which, from 1885, contributed to a marked growth of +trade was the resumption of specie payments. Up to that time the +treasury's fiat notes had suffered such marked fluctuations of specie +value that sound or successful commerce became very difficult. Against +the importing merchant the currency trouble worked with double potency. +Not only did the gold with which he purchased goods appreciate +constantly in terms of the silver for which he sold them, but the silver +itself appreciated sharply and rapidly in terms of the fiat notes paid +by Japanese consumers. Cursory reflection may suggest that these factors +should have stimulated exports as much as they depressed imports. But +such was not altogether the case in practice. For the exporter's +transactions were hampered by the possibility that a delay of a week or +even a day might increase the purchasing power of his silver in Japanese +markets by bringing about a further depreciation of paper, so that he +worked timidly and hesitatingly, dividing his operations as minutely as +possible in order to take advantage of the downward tendency of the fiat +notes. Not till this element of pernicious disturbance was removed did +the trade recover a healthy tone and grow so lustily as to tread closely +on the heels of the foreign commerce of China, with her 300 million +inhabitants and long-established international relations. + + + The Foreign Middleman. + +Japan's trade with the outer world was built up chiefly by the energy +and enterprise of the foreign middleman. He acted the part of an almost +ideal agent. As an exporter, his command of cheap capital, his +experience, his knowledge of foreign markets, and his connexions enabled +him to secure sales such as must have been beyond reach of the Japanese +working independently. Moreover, he paid to native consumers ready cash +for their staples, taking upon his own shoulders all the risks of +finding markets abroad. As an importer, he enjoyed, in centres of +supply, credit which the Japanese lacked, and he offered to native +consumers foreign produce brought to their doors with a minimum of +responsibility on their part. Finally, whether as exporters or +importers, foreign middlemen always competed with each other so keenly +that their Japanese clients obtained the best possible terms from them. +Yet the ambition of the Japanese to oust them cannot be regarded as +unnatural. Every nation must desire to carry on its own commerce +independently of alien assistance; and moreover, the foreign middleman's +residence during many years within Japanese territory, but without the +pale of Japanese sovereignty, invested him with an aggressive character +which the anti-Oriental exclusiveness of certain Occidental nations +helped to accentuate. Thus from the point of view of the average +Japanese there are several reasons for wishing to dispense with alien +middlemen, and it is plain that these reasons are operative; for +whereas, in 1888, native merchants carried on only 12% of the country's +over-sea trade without the intervention of the foreign middlemen, their +share rose to 35% in 1899 and has since been slowly increasing. + + + Balance of Trade. + + Analysis of Japan's foreign trade during the Meiji era shows that + during the 35-year period ending in 1907, imports exceeded exports in + 21 years and exports exceeded imports in 14 years. This does not + suggest a very badly balanced trade. But closer examination + accentuates the difference, for when the figures are added, it is + found that the excesses of exports aggregated only 11 millions + sterling, whereas the excesses of imports totalled 71 millions, there + being thus a so-called "unfavourable balance" of 60 millions over all. + The movements of specie do not throw much light upon this subject, for + they are complicated by large imports of gold resulting from war + indemnities and foreign loans. Undoubtedly the balance is materially + redressed by the expenditures of the foreign communities in the former + settlements, of foreign tourists visiting Japan and of foreign vessels + engaged in the carrying trade, as well as by the earnings of Japanese + vessels and the interest on investments made by foreigners. + Nevertheless there remains an appreciable margin against Japan, and it + is probably to be accounted for by the consideration that she is still + engaged equipping herself for the industrial career evidently lying + before her. + + + Trade with Various Countries. + + The manner in which Japan's over-sea trade was divided in 1907 among + the seven foreign countries principally engaged in it may be seen from + the following table:-- + + Exports to Imports from Total + £ (millions). £ (millions). £ (millions). + + United States 13½ 8½ 22 + China 8¾ 6¼ 15 + Great Britain 2¼ 11¾ 14 + British India 1{1/3} 7(2/3) 9 + Germany 1{1/8} 4(7/8) 6 + France 4{1/3} (2/3) 5 + Korea 3{1/3} 1(2/3) 5 + + Among the 33 open ports of Japan, the first place belongs to Yokohama + in the matter of foreign trade, and Kobe ranks second. The former far + outstrips the latter in exports, but the case is reversed when imports + are considered. As to the percentages of the whole trade standing to + the credit of the five principal ports, the following figures may be + consulted:--Yokohama, 40%; Kobe, 35.6; Osaka, 10; Moji, 5; and + Nagasaki, 2. + + +VI.--GOVERNMENT, ADMINISTRATION, &C. + +_Emperor and Princes._--At the head of the Japanese State stands the +emperor, generally spoken of by foreigners as the _mikado_ (honourable +gate[9]), a title comparable with sublime porte and by his own subjects +as _tenshi_ (son of heaven) or _tenno_ (heavenly king). The emperor +Mutou Hito (q.v.) was the 121st of his line, according to Japanese +history, which reckons from 660 B.C., when Jimmu ascended the throne. +But as written records do not carry us back farther than A.D. 712, the +reigns and periods of the very early monarchs are more or less +apocryphal. Still the fact remains that Japan has been ruled by an +unbroken dynasty ever since the dawn of her history, in which respect +she is unique among all the nations in the world. There are four +families of princes of the blood, from any one of which a successor to +the throne may be taken in default of a direct heir: Princes Arisugawa, +Fushimi, Kanin and Higashi Fushimi. These families are all direct +descendants of emperors, and their heads have the title of _shinno_ +(prince of the blood), whereas the other imperial princes, of whom there +are ten, have only the second syllable of _shinno_ (pronounced _wo_ when +separated from _shin_). Second and younger sons of a _shinno_ are all +_wo_, and eldest sons lose the title _shin_ and become _wo_ from the +fifth generation. + +_The Peerage._--In former times there were no Japanese titles of +nobility, as the term is understood in the Occident. Nobles there were, +however, namely, _kuge_, or court nobles, descendants of younger sons of +emperors, and _daimyo_ (great name), some of whom could trace their +lineage to mikados; but all owed their exalted position as feudal chiefs +to military prowess. The Meiji restoration of 1867 led to the abolition +of the _daimyos_ as feudal chiefs, and they, together with the kuge, +were merged into one class called _kwazoku_ (flower families), a term +corresponding to aristocracy, all inferior persons being _heimin_ +(ordinary folk). In 1884, however, the five Chinese titles of _ki_ +(prince), _ko_ (marquis), _haku_ (count), _shi_ (viscount) and _dan_ +(baron) were introduced, and patents were not only granted to the +ancient nobility but also conferred on men who had rendered conspicuous +public service. The titles are all hereditary, but they descend to the +firstborn only, younger children having no distinguishing appellation. +The first list in 1884 showed 11 princes, 24 marquises, 76 counts, 324 +viscounts and 74 barons. After the war with China (1894-95) the total +grew to 716, and the war with Russia (1904-5) increased the number to +912, namely, 15 princes, 39 marquises, 100 counts, 376 viscounts and 382 +barons. + + _Household Department._--The Imperial household department is + completely differentiated from the administration of state affairs. It + includes bureaux of treasury, forests, peerage and hunting, as well as + boards of ceremonies and chamberlains, officials of the empress's + household and officials of the crown prince's household. The annual + allowance made to the throne is £300,000, and the Imperial estate + comprises some 12,000 acres of building land, 3,850,000 acres of + forests, and 300,000 acres of miscellaneous lands, the whole valued at + some 19 millions sterling, but probably not yielding an income of more + than £200,000 yearly. Further, the household owns about 3 millions + sterling (face value) of bonds and shares, from which a revenue of + some £250,000 is derived, so that the whole income amounts to + three-quarters of a million sterling, approximately. Out of this the + households of the crown prince and all the Imperial princes are + supported; allowances are granted at the time of conferring titles of + nobility; a long list of charities receive liberal contributions, and + considerable sums are paid to encourage art and education. The emperor + himself is probably one of the most frugal sovereigns that ever + occupied a throne. + +_Departments of State._--There are nine departments of state presided +over by ministers--foreign affairs, home affairs, finance, war, navy, +justice, education, agriculture and commerce, communications. These +ministers form the cabinet, which is presided over by the minister +president of state, so that its members number ten in all. Ministers of +state are appointed by the emperor and are responsible to him alone. But +between the cabinet and the crown stand a small body of men, the +survivors of those by whose genius modern Japan was raised to her +present high position among the nations. They are known as "elder +statesmen" (_genro_). Their proved ability constitutes an invaluable +asset, and in the solution of serious problems their voice may be said +to be final. At the end of 1909 four of these renowned statesmen +remained--Prince Yamagata, Marquises Inouye and Matsukata and Count +Okuma. There is also a privy council, which consists of a variable +number of distinguished men--in 1909 there were 29, the president being +Field-Marshal Prince Yamagata. Their duty is to debate and advise upon +all matters referred to them by the emperor, who sometimes attends their +meetings in person. + + _Civil Officials._--The total number of civil officials was 137,819 in + 1906. It had been only 68,876 in 1898, from which time it grew + regularly year by year. The salaries and allowances paid out of the + treasury every year on account of the civil service are 4 millions + sterling, approximately, and the annual emoluments of the principal + officials are as follow:--Prime minister, £960; minister of a + department, £600; ambassador, £500, with allowances varying from £2200 + to £3000; president of privy council, £500; resident-general in Seoul, + £600; governor-general of Formosa, £600; vice-minister, £400; minister + plenipotentiary, £400, with allowances from £1000 to £1700; governor + of prefecture, £300 to £360; judge of the court of cassation, £200 to + £500; other judges, £60 to £400; professor of imperial university, + from £80 to £160, with allowances from £40 to £120; privy councillor, + £400; director of a bureau, £300; &c. + +_Legislature._--The first Japanese Diet was convoked the 29th of +November, 1890. There are two chambers, a house of peers (_kizoku-in_) +and a house of representatives (_shugi-in_). Each is invested with the +same legislative power. + +The upper chamber consists of four classes of members. They are, first, +hereditary members, namely, princes and marquises, who are entitled to +sit when they reach the age of 25; secondly, counts, viscounts and +barons, elected--after they have attained their 25th year--by their +respective orders in the maximum ratio of one member to every five +peers; thirdly, men of education or distinguished service who are +nominated by the emperor; and, fourthly, representatives of the highest +tax-payers, elected, one for each prefecture, by their own class. The +minimum age limit for non-titled members is 30, and it is provided that +their total number must not exceed that of the titled members. The house +was composed in 1909 of 14 princes of the blood, 15 princes, 39 +marquises, 17 counts, 69 viscounts, 56 barons, 124 Imperial nominees, +and 45 representatives of the highest tax-payers--that is to say, 210 +titled members and 169 non-titled. + +The lower house consists of elected members only. Originally the +property qualification was fixed at a minimum annual payment of 30s. in +direct taxes (i.e. taxes imposed by the central government), but in +1900 the law of election was amended, and the property qualification for +electors is now a payment of £1 in direct taxes, while for candidates no +qualification is required either as to property or as to locality. +Members are of two kinds, namely, those returned by incorporated cities +and those returned by prefectures. In each case the ratio is one member +for every 130,000 electors, and the electoral district is the city or +prefecture. + +Voting is by ballot, one man one vote, and a general election must take +place once in 4 years for the house of representatives, and once in 7 +years for the house of peers. The house of representatives, however, is +liable to be dissolved by order of the sovereign as a disciplinary +measure, in which event a general election must be held within 5 months +from the date of dissolution, whereas the house of peers is not liable +to any such treatment. Otherwise the two houses enjoy equal rights and +privileges, except that the budget must first be submitted to the +representatives. Each member receives a salary of £200; the president +receives £500, and the vice-president £300. The presidents are nominated +by the sovereign from three names submitted by each house, but the +appointment of a vice-president is within the independent right of each +chamber. The lower house consists of 379 members, of whom 75 are +returned by the urban population and 304 by the rural. Under the +original property qualification the number of franchise-holders was only +453,474, or 11.5 to every 1000 of the nation, but it is now 1,676,007, +or 15.77 to every 1000. By the constitution which created the diet +freedom of conscience, of speech and of public meeting, inviolability of +domicile and correspondence, security from arrest or punishment except +by due process of law, permanence of judicial appointments and all the +other essential elements of civil liberty were granted. In the diet full +legislative authority is vested: without its consent no tax can be +imposed, increased or remitted; nor can any public money be paid out +except the salaries of officials, which the sovereign reserves the right +to fix at will. In the emperor are vested the prerogatives of declaring +war and making peace, of concluding treaties, of appointing and +dismissing officials, of approving and promulgating laws, of issuing +urgent ordinances to take the temporary place of laws, and of conferring +titles of nobility. + + _Procedure of the Diet._--It could scarcely have been expected that + neither tumult nor intemperance would disfigure the proceedings of a + diet whose members were entirely without parliamentary experience, but + not without grievances to ventilate, wrongs (real or fancied) to + avenge, and abuses to redress. On the whole, however, there has been a + remarkable absence of anything like disgraceful licence. The + politeness, the good temper, and the sense of dignity which + characterize the Japanese, generally saved the situation when it + threatened to degenerate into a "scene." Foreigners entering the house + of representatives in Tokyo for the first time might easily + misinterpret some of its habits. A number distinguishes each member. + It is painted in white on a wooden indicator, the latter being + fastened by a hinge to the face of the member's desk. When present he + sets the indicator standing upright, and lowers it when leaving the + house. Permission to speak is not obtained by catching the president's + eye, but by calling out the aspirant's number, and as members often + emphasize their calls by hammering their desks with the indicators, + there are moments of decided din. But, for the rest, orderliness and + decorum habitually prevail. Speeches have to be made from a rostrum. + There are few displays of oratory or eloquence. The Japanese + formulates his views with remarkable facility. He is absolutely free + from _gaucherie_ or self-consciousness when speaking in public: he can + think on his feet. But his mind does not usually busy itself with + abstract ideas and subtleties of philosophical or religious thought. + Flights of fancy, impassioned bursts of sentiment, appeals to the + heart rather than to the reason of an audience, are devices strange to + his mental habit. He can be rhetorical, but not eloquent. Among all + the speeches hitherto delivered in the Japanese diet it would be + difficult to find a passage deserving the latter epithet. + + From the first the debates were recorded verbatim. Years before the + date fixed for the promulgation of the constitution, a little band of + students elaborated a system of stenography and adapted it to the + Japanese syllabary. Their labours remained almost without recognition + or remuneration until the diet was on the eve of meeting, when it was + discovered that a competent staff of shorthand reporters could be + organized at an hour's notice. Japan can thus boast that, alone among + the countries of the world, she possesses an exact record of the + proceedings of her Diet from the moment when the first word was spoken + within its walls. + + A special feature of the Diet's procedure helps to discourage + oratorical displays. Each measure of importance has to be submitted to + a committee, and not until the latter's report has been received does + serious debate take place. But in ninety-nine cases out of every + hundred the committee's report determines the attitude of the house, + and speeches are felt to be more or less superfluous. One result of + this system is that business is done with a degree of celerity + scarcely known in Occidental legislatures. For example, the meetings + of the house of representatives during the session 1896-1897 were 32, + and the number of hours occupied by the sittings aggregated 116. Yet + the result was 55 bills debated and passed, several of them measures + of prime importance, such as the gold standard bill, the budget and a + statutory tariff law. It must be remembered that although actual + sittings of the houses are comparatively few and brief, the committees + remain almost constantly at work from morning to evening throughout + the twelve weeks of the session's duration. + + _Divisions of the Empire._--The earliest traditional divisions of + Japan into provinces was made by the emperor Seimu (131-190), in whose + time the sway of the throne did not extend farther north than a line + curving from Sendai Bay, on the north-east coast of the main island, + to the vicinity of Niigata (one of the treaty ports), on the + north-west coast. The region northward of this line was then occupied + by barbarous tribes, of whom the Ainu (still to be found in Yezo) are + probably the remaining descendants. The whole country was then divided + into thirty-two provinces. In the 3rd century the empress Jingo, on + her return from her victorious expedition against Korea, portioned out + the empire into five home provinces and seven circuits, in imitation + of the Korean system. By the emperor Mommu (696-707) some of the + provinces were subdivided so as to increase the whole number to + sixty-six, and the boundaries then fixed by him were re-surveyed in + the reign of the emperor Shomu (723-756). The old division is as + follows[10]:-- + + I. The _Go-kinai_ or "five home provinces" i.e. those lying + immediately around Kyoto, the capital, viz.:-- + + _Yamashiro_, also called Joshu | Izumi, also called _Senshu_ + _Yamato_ " Washu | _Settsu_ " Sesshu + _Kawachi_ " Kashu | + + II. The seven circuits, as follow:-- + + 1. The _Tokaido_, or "eastern-sea circuit," which comprised + fifteen provinces, viz.:-- + + _Iga_ or Ishu | Kai or _Koshyu_ + _Isé_ " _Seishu_ | _Sagami_ " _Soshyu_ + _Shima_ " Shinshu | Musashi " _Bushyu_ + _Owari_ " _Bishu_ | Awa " _Boshu_ + Mikawa " _Sanshu_ | Kazusa " Soshu + Totomi " _Enshu_ | Shimosa " Soshu + Suruga " _Sunshu_ | Hitachi " Joshu + _Izu_ " Dzushu | + + 2. The _Tozando_, or "eastern-mountain circuit," which comprised + eight provinces, viz.:-- + + Omi or _Goshu_ | Kozuke or _Joshu_ + _Mino_ " Noshu | Shimotsuke " _Yashu_ + _Hida_ " Hishu | Mutsu " _Oshu_ + Shinano " _Shinshu_ | _Dewa_ " Ushu + + 3. The _Hokurikudo_, or "northern-land circuit," which comprised + seven provinces, viz.:-- + + Wakasa or _Jakushu_ | _Etchiu_ or Esshu + _Echizen_ " Esshu | _Echigo_ " Esshu + _Kaga_ " _Kashu_ | _Sado_ (island) " Sashu + _Noto_ " Noshu | + + 4. The _Sanindo_, or "mountain-back circuit," which comprised + eight provinces, viz.:-- + + _Tamba_ or Tanshu | _Hoki_ or Hakushu + _Tango_ " Tanshu | Izumo " _Unshu + _Tajima_ " Tanshu | Iwami " _Sekishu_ + Inaba " _Inshu_ | _Oki_ (group of islands) + + 5. The _Sanyodo_, or "mountain-front circuit," which comprised + eight provinces, viz.:-- + + Harima or Banshu | _Bingo or Bishu + Mimasaka " Sakushu | Aki " _Geishu_ + _Bizen_ " Bishu | _Suwo_ " Boshu + _Bitchiu_ " Bishu | Nagato " _Choshu_ + + 6. The _Nankaido_, or "southern-sea circuit," which comprised, + six provinces, viz.:-- + + Kii or _Kishu_ | _Sanuki_ or Sanshu + _Awaji (island)_ " Tanshu | _Iyo_ " Yoshu + Awa " _Ashu_ | _Tosa_ " _Toshu_ + + 7. The _Saikaido_, or "western-sea circuit," which comprised + nine provinces, viz:-- + + _Chikuzen_ or Chikushu | _Higo_ or Hishu + _Chikugo_ " Chikushu | _Hiuga_ " Nisshu + _Buzen_ " Hoshu | _Osumi_ " Gushu + _Bungo_ " Hoshu | Satsuma " _Sasshu_ + _Hizen_ " Hishu | + + III. The two islands, viz.:-- + + 1. Tsushima or _Taishu_ | 2. _Iki_ or Ishu + + Upon comparing the above list with a map of Japan, it will be seen + that the main island contains the Go-kinai, Tokaido, Tozando, + Hokurikudo, Sanindo, Sanyodo, and one province (Kishu) of the + Nankaido. Omitting also the island of Awaji, the remaining provinces + of the Nankaido give the name Shikoku (the "four provinces") to the + island in which they lie; while Saikaido coincides exactly with the + large island Kiushiu (the "nine provinces"). + + In 1868, when the rebellious nobles of Oshu and Dewa, in the Tozando, + had submitted to the emperor, those two provinces were subdivided, + Dewa into Uzen and Ugo, and Oshu into Iwaki, Iwashiro, Rikuzen, + Rikuchu and Michinoku (usually called Mutsu). This increased the old + number of provinces from sixty-six to seventy-one. At the same time + there was created a new circuit, called the _Hokkaido_, or + "northern-sea circuit," which comprised the eleven provinces into + which the large island of Yezo was then divided (viz. Oshima, + Shiribeshi, Ishikari, Teshibo, Kitami, Iburi, Hiaka, Tokachi, Kushiro, + and Nemuro) and the Kurile Islands (Chishima). + + Another division of the old sixty-six provinces was made by taking as + a central point the ancient barrier of Osaka on the frontier of Omi + and Yamashiro,--the region lying on the east, which consisted of + thirty-three provinces, being called _Kwanto_, or "east of the + barrier," the remaining thirty-three provinces on the west being + styled _Kwansei_, or "west of the barrier." At the present time, + however, the term Kwanto is applied to only the eight provinces of + Musashi, Sagami, Kozuke, Shimotsuke, Kazusa, Shimosa, Awa and + Hitachi,--all lying immediately to the east of the old barrier of + Hakone, in Sagami. + + _Chu-goku_, or "central provinces," is a name in common use for the + Sanindo and Sanyodo taken together. _Saikoku_, or "western provinces," + is another name for Kiushiu, which in books again is frequently called + _Chinsei_. + + _Local Administrative Divisions._--For purposes of local + administration Japan is divided into 3 urban prefectures (_fu_), 43 + rural prefectures (_ken_), and 3 special dominions (_cho_), namely + Formosa; Hokkaido and South Sakhalin. Formosa and Sakhalin not having + been included in Japan's territories until 1895 and 1905, + respectively, are still under the military control of a + governor-general, and belong, therefore, to an administrative system + different from that prevailing throughout the rest of the country. The + prefectures and Hokkaido are divided again into 638 sub-prefectures + (_gun_ or _kori_); 60 towns (_shi_); 125 urban districts (_cho_) and + 12,274 rural districts (_son_). The three urban prefectures are Tokyo, + Osaka and Kioto, and the urban and rural districts are distinguished + according to the number of houses they contain. Each prefecture is + named after its chief town, with the exception of Okinawa, which is + the appellation of a group of islands called also Riukiu (Luchu). The + following table shows the names of the prefectures, their areas, + populations, number of sub-prefectures, towns and urban and rural + divisions:-- + + Prefecture. Area in Population Sub- Towns Urban Rural + sq. m. Prefectures. Districts Districts + + Tokyo 749.76 1,795,128* 8 1 20 157 + Kanagawa 927.79 776,642 11 1 19 202 + Saitama 1,585.30 1,174,094 9 -- 42 343 + Chiba 1,943.85 1,273,387 12 -- 69 286 + Ibaraki 2,235.67 1,131,556 14 1 45 335 + Tochigi 2,854.14 788,324 8 1 30 145 + Gumma 2,427.21 774,654 11 2 38 169 + Nagano 5,088.41 1,237,584 16 1 22 371 + Yamanashi 1,727.50 498,539 9 1 7 235 + Shizuoka 3,002.76 1,199,805 13 1 38 306 + Aichi 1,864.17 1,591,357 19 1 74 592 + Miye 2,196.56 495,389 15 2 19 325 + Gifu 4,001.84 996,062 18 1 42 299 + Shiga 1,540.30 712,024 12 1 12 190 + Fukui 1,621.50 633,840 11 1 9 171 + Ishikawa 1,611.59 392,905 8 1 16 259 + Toyama 1,587.80 785,554 8 2 31 239 + + The above 17 prefectures form Central Japan. + + Niigata 4,914.55 1,812,289 16 1 47 401 + Fukushima 5,042.57 1,057,971 17 1 37 388 + Miyagi 3,223.11 835,830 16 1 31 172 + Yamagata 3,576.89 829,210 11 2 24 206 + Akita 4,493.84 775,077 9 1 42 197 + + Iwate 5,359.17 726,380 13 1 23 217 + Aomori 3,617.89 612,171 8 2 9 159 + + The above 7 prefectures form Northern Japan. + + Kioto 1,767.43 931,576* 18 1 20 260 + Osaka 689.69 1,311,909* 9 2 13 289 + Nara 1,200.46 538,507 10 1 18 142 + Wakayama 1,851.29 681,572 7 1 16 215 + Hiogo 3,318.31 1,667,226 25 2 29 403 + Okayama 2,509.04 1,132,000 19 1 29 383 + Hiroshima 3,103.84 1,436,415 16 3 27 420 + Yamaguchi 1,324.34 986,161 11 1 10 215 + Shimane 2,597.48 721,448 16 1 14 276 + Tottori 1,335.99 418,929 6 1 8 227 + + The above 10 prefectures form Southern Japan. + + Tokushima 1,616.82 699,398 10 1 2 137 + Kagawa 976.46 700,462 7 2 12 166 + Ehime 2,033.57 997,481 12 1 18 283 + Kochi 2,720.13 616,549 6 1 14 183 + + The above 4 prefectures form the island of Shikoku. + + Nagasaki 1,401.49 821,323 9 2 15 288 + Saga 984.07 621,011 8 1 7 127 + Fukuoka 1,894.14 1,362,743 19 4 38 340 + Kumamoto 2,774.20 1,151,401 12 1 33 331 + Oita 2,400.27 839,485 12 -- 28 251 + Miyazaki 2,904.54 454,707 8 -- 9 91 + Kagoshima 3,589.76 1,104,631 12 1 -- 380 + Okinawa 935.18 469,203 5 2 -- 52 + + The above 8 prefectures form Kiushiu. + + Hokkaido 36,328.34 610,155 88 3 19 456 + + * This is not the population of the city proper, but that of the + urban prefecture. + +_Local Administrative System._--In the system of local administration +full effect is given to the principle of popular representation. Each +prefecture (urban or rural), each sub-prefecture, each town and each +district (urban or rural) has its local assembly, the number of members +being fixed in proportion to the population. There is no superior limit +of number in the case of a prefectural assembly, but the inferior limit +is 30. For a town assembly, however, the superior limit is 60 and the +inferior 30; for a sub-prefectural assembly the corresponding figures +are 40 and 15, and for a district assembly, 30 and 8. These bodies are +all elective. The property qualification for the franchise in the case +of prefectural and sub-prefectural assemblies is an annual payment of +direct national taxes to the amount of 3 _yen;_ and in the case of town +and district assemblies, 2 _yen_; while to be eligible for election to a +prefectural assembly a yearly payment of 10 _yen_ of direct national +taxes is necessary; to a sub-prefectural assembly, 5 _yen_, and to a +town or district assembly, 2 _yen_. Under these qualifications the +electors aggregate 2,009,745, and those eligible for election total +919,507. In towns and districts franchise-holders are further divided +into classes with regard to their payment of local taxes. Thus for town +electors there are three classes, differentiated by the following +process: On the list of ratepayers the highest are checked off until +their aggregate payments are equal to one-third of the total taxes. +These persons form the first class. Next below them the persons whose +aggregate payments represent one-third of the total amount are checked +off to form the second class, and all the remainder form the third +class. Each class elects one-third of the members of assembly. In the +districts there are only two classes, namely, those whose payments, in +order from the highest, aggregate one-half of the total, the remaining +names on the list being placed in the second class. Each class elects +one-half of the members. This is called the system of _o-jinushi_ (large +landowners) and is found to work satisfactorily as a device for +conferring representative rights in proportion to property. The +franchise is withheld from all salaried local officials, from judicial +officials, from ministers of religion, from persons who, not being +barristers by profession, assist the people in affairs connected with +law courts or official bureaux, and from every individual or member of a +company that contracts for the execution of public works or the supply +of articles to a local administration, as well as from persons unable to +write their own names and the name of the candidate for whom they vote. +Members of assembly are not paid. For prefectural and sub-prefectural +assemblies the term is four years; for town and district assemblies, six +years, with the provision that one-half of the members must be elected +every third year. The prefectural assemblies hold one session of 30 days +yearly; the sub-prefectural assemblies, one session of not more than 14 +days. The town and district assemblies have no fixed session; they are +summoned by the mayor or the head-man when their deliberations appear +necessary, and they continue in session till their business is +concluded. + + The chief function of the assemblies is to deal with all questions of + local finance. They discuss and vote the yearly budgets; they pass the + settled accounts; they fix the local taxes within a maximum limit + which bears a certain ratio to the national taxes; they make + representations to the minister for home affairs; they deal with the + fixed property of the locality; they raise loans, and so on. It is + necessary, however, that they should obtain the consent of the + minister for home affairs, and sometimes of the minister of finance + also, before disturbing any objects of scientific, artistic or + historical importance; before contracting loans; before imposing + special taxes or passing the normal limits of taxation; before + enacting new local regulations or changing the old; before dealing + with grants in aid made by the central treasury, &c. The governor of a + prefecture, who is appointed by the central administration, is + invested with considerable power. He oversees the carrying out of all + works undertaken at the public expense; he causes bills to be drafted + for discussion by an assembly; he is responsible for the + administration of the funds and property of the prefecture; he orders + payments and receipts; he directs the machinery for collecting taxes + and fees; he summons a prefectural assembly, opens it and closes it, + and has competence to suspend its session should such a course seem + necessary. Many of the functions performed by the governor with regard + to prefectural assemblies are discharged by a head-man (_gun-chô_) in + the case of sub-prefectural assemblies. This head-man is a salaried + official appointed by the central administration. He convenes, opens + and closes the sub-prefectural assembly; he may require it to + reconsider any of its financial decisions that seem improper, + explaining his reasons for doing so, and should the assembly adhere to + its original view, he may refer the matter to the governor of the + prefecture. On the other hand, the assembly is competent to appeal to + the home minister from the governor's decision. The sub-prefectural + head-man may also take upon himself, in case of emergency, any of the + functions falling within the competence of the sub-prefectural + assembly, provided that he reports the fact to the assembly and seeks + its sanction at the earliest possible opportunity. In each district + also there is a head-man, but his post is always elective and + generally non-salaried. He occupies towards a district assembly the + same position that the sub-prefecture head-man holds towards a + sub-prefectural assembly. Over the governors stands the minister for + home affairs, who discharges general duties of superintendence and + sanction, has competence to delete any item of a local budget, and + may, with the emperor's consent, order the dissolution of a local + assembly, provided that steps are taken to elect and convene another + within three months. + + The machinery of local administration is completed by councils, of + which the governor of a prefecture, the mayor[11] of a town, or the + head-man of a sub-prefecture or district, is _ex officio_ president, + and the councillors are partly elective, partly nominated by the + central government. The councils may be said to stand in an executive + position towards the local legislatures, namely, the assemblies, for + the former give effect to the measures voted by the latter, take their + place in case of emergency and consider questions submitted by them. + This system of local government has now been in operation since 1885, + and has been found to work well. It constitutes a thorough method of + political education for the people. In feudal days popular + representation had no existence, but a very effective chain of local + responsibility was manufactured by dividing the people--apart from the + samurai--into groups of five families, which were held jointly liable + for any offence committed by one of their members. Thus it cannot be + said that the people were altogether unprepared for this new system. + + + The Ancient System. + +_The Army._--The Japanese--as distinguished from the aboriginal +inhabitants of Japan--having fought their way into the country, are +naturally described in their annals as a nation of soldiers. The +sovereign is said to have been the commander-in-chief and his captains +were known as _o-omi_ and _o-muraji_, while the duty of serving in the +ranks devolved on all subjects alike. This information is indeed +derived from tradition only, since the first written record goes back +no further than 712. We are justified, however, in believing that at the +close of the 7th century of the Christian era, when the empress Jito sat +upon the throne, the social system of the Tang dynasty of China +commended itself for adoption; the distinction of civil and military is +said to have been then established for the first time, though it +probably concerned officials only. Certain officers received definitely +military commissions, as generals, brigadiers, captains and so on; a +military office (_hyobu-sho_) was organized, and each important district +throughout the empire had its military division (_gundan_). +One-third--some say one-fourth--of the nation's able-bodied males +constituted the army. Tactically there was a complete organization, from +the squad of 5 men to the division of 600 horse and 400 foot. Service +was for a defined period, during which taxes were remitted, so that +military duties always found men ready to discharge them. Thus the +hereditary soldier--afterwards known as the _samurai_ or _bushi_--did +not yet exist, nor was there any such thing as an exclusive right to +carry arms. Weapons of war, the property of the state, were served out +when required for fighting or for training purposes. + +At the close of the 8th century stubborn insurrections on the part of +the aborigines gave new importance to the soldier. The conscription list +had to be greatly increased, and it came to be a recognized principle +that every stalwart man should bear arms, every weakling become a +bread-winner. Thus, for the first time, the distinction between +"soldier" and "working man"[12] received official recognition, and in +consequence of the circumstances attending the distinction a measure of +contempt attached to the latter. The next stage of development had its +origin in the assumption of high offices of state by great families, who +encroached upon the imperial prerogatives, and appropriated as +hereditary perquisites posts which should have remained in the gift of +the sovereign. The Fujiwara clan, taking all the civil offices, resided +in the capital, whereas the military posts fell to the lot of the Taira +and the Minamoto, who, settling in the provinces and being thus required +to guard and police the outlying districts, found it expedient to +surround themselves with men who made soldiering a profession. These +latter, in their turn, transmitted their functions to their sons, so +that there grew up in the shadow of the great houses a number of +military families devoted to maintaining the power and promoting the +interests of their masters, from whom they derived their own privileges +and emoluments. + +From the middle of the 10th century, therefore, the terms _samurai_ and +_bushi_ acquired a special significance, being applied to themselves and +their followers by the local magnates, whose power tended more and more +to eclipse even that of the throne, and finally, in the 12th century, +when the Minamoto brought the whole country under the sway of military +organization, the privilege of bearing arms was restricted to the +samurai. Thenceforth the military class entered upon a period of +administrative and social superiority which lasted, without serious +interruption, until the middle of the 19th century. But it is to be +observed that the distinction between soldier and civilian, samurai and +commoner, was not of ancient existence, nor did it arise from any +question of race or caste, victor or vanquished, as is often supposed +and stated. It was an outcome wholly of ambitious usurpations, which, +relying for success on force of arms, gave practical importance to the +soldier, and invested his profession with factitious honour. + + + Weapons. + + The bow was always the chief weapon of the fighting-man in Japan. + "War" and "bow-and-arrow" were synonymous terms. Tradition tells how + Tametomo shot an arrow through the crest of his brother's helmet, in + order to recall the youth's allegiance without injuring him; how + Nasuno Michitaka discharged a shaft that severed the stem of a fan + swayed by the wind; how Mutsuru, ordered by an emperor to rescue a + fish from the talons of an osprey without killing bird or fish, cut + off the osprey's feet with a crescent-headed arrow so that the fish + dropped into the palace lake and the bird continued its flight; and + there are many similar records of Japanese skill with the weapon. + Still better authenticated were the feats performed at the + "thirty-three-span halls" in Kioto and Yedo, where the archer had to + shoot an arrow through the whole length of a corridor 128 yards long + and only 16 ft. high. Wada Daihachi, in the 17th century, succeeded in + sending 8133 arrows from end to end of the corridor in 24 consecutive + hours, being an average of over 5 shafts per minute; and Masatoki, in + 1852, made 5383 successful shots in 20 hours, more than 4 a minute. + The lengths of the bow and arrow were determined with reference to the + capacity of the archer. In the case of the bow, the unit of + measurement was the distance between the tips of the thumb and the + little finger with the hand fully stretched. Fifteen of these units + gave the length of the bow--the maximum being about 7½ ft. The unit + for the arrow was from 12 to 15 hand-breadths, or from 3 ft. to 3¾ ft. + Originally the bow was of unvarnished boxwood or _zelkowa_; but + subsequently bamboo alone came to be employed. Binding with cord or + rattan served to strengthen the bow, and for precision of flight the + arrow had three feathers, an eagle's wing being most esteemed for that + purpose, and after it, in order, that of the copper pheasant, the + crane, the adjutant and the snipe. + + Next in importance to the bow came the sword, which is often spoken of + as the samurai's chief weapon, though there can be no doubt that + during long ages it ranked after the bow. It was a single-edged weapon + remarkable for its three exactly similar curves--edge, face-line and + back; its almost imperceptibly convexed blade; its admirable + tempering; its consummately skilled forging; its razor-like sharpness; + its cunning distribution of weight, giving a maximum efficiency of + stroke. The 10th century saw this weapon carried to perfection, and it + has been inferred that only from that epoch did the samurai begin to + esteem his sword as the greatest treasure he possessed, and to rely on + it as his best instrument of attack and defence. But it is evident + that the evolution of such a blade must have been due to an urgent, + long-existing demand, and that the _katana_ came as the sequel of + innumerable efforts on the part of the sword-smith and generous + encouragement on that of the soldier. Many pages of Japanese annals + and household traditions are associated with its use. In every age + numbers of men devoted their whole lives to acquiring novel skill in + swordsmanship. Many of them invented systems of their own, differing + from one another in some subtle details unknown to any save the master + himself and his favourite pupils. Not merely the method of handling + the weapon had to be studied. Associated with sword-play was an art + variously known as _shinobi_, _yawara_, and _jujutsu_, names which + imply the exertion of muscular force in such a manner as to produce a + maximum of effect with a minimum of effort, by directing an + adversary's strength so as to become auxiliary to one's own. It was an + essential element of the expert's art not only that he should be + competent to defend himself with any object that happened to be within + reach, but also that without an orthodox weapon he should be capable + of inflicting fatal or disabling injury on an assailant. In the many + records of great swordsmen instances are related of men seizing a + piece of firewood, a brazier-iron, or a druggist's pestle as a weapon + of offence, while, on the other side, an umbrella, an iron fan or even + a pot-lid served for protection. The samurai had to be prepared for + every emergency. Were he caught weaponless by a number of assailants, + his art of yawara was supposed to supply him with expedients for + emerging unscathed. Nothing counted save the issue. The methods of + gaining victory or the circumstances attending defeat were scarcely + taken into consideration. The true samurai had to rise superior to all + contingencies. Out of this perpetual effort on the part of hundreds of + experts to discover and perfect novel developments of swordsmanship, + there grew a habit which held its vogue down to modern times, namely, + that when a man had mastered one style of sword-play in the school of + a teacher, he set himself to study all others, and for that purpose + undertook a tour throughout the provinces, challenging every expert, + and, in the event of defeat, constituting himself the victor's pupil. + The sword exercised a potent influence on the life of the Japanese + nation. The distinction of wearing it, the rights that it conferred, + the deeds wrought with it, the fame attaching to special skill in its + use, the superstitions connected with it, the incredible value set + upon a fine blade, the honours bestowed on an expert sword-smith, the + traditions that had grown up around celebrated weapons, the profound + study needed to be a competent judge of a sword's qualities--all these + things conspired to give the katana an importance beyond the limits of + ordinary comprehension. A samurai carried at least two swords, a long + and a short. Their scabbards of lacquered wood were thrust into his + girdle, not slung from it, being fastened in their place by cords of + plaited silk. Sometimes he increased the number of swords to three, + four or even five, before going into battle, and this array was + supplemented by a dagger carried in the bosom. The short sword was not + employed in the actual combat. Its use was to cut off an enemy's head + after overthrowing him, and it also served a defeated soldier in his + last resort--suicide. In general the long sword did not measure more + than 3 ft., including the hilt; but some were 5 ft. long, and some 7. + Considering that the scabbard, being fastened to the girdle, had no + play, the feat of drawing one of these very long swords demanded + extraordinary aptitude. + + Spear and glaive were also ancient Japanese weapons. The oldest form + of spear was derived from China. Its handle measured about 6 ft. and + its blade 8 in., and it had sickle-shaped horns at the junction of + blade and hilt (somewhat resembling a European _ranseur_). This weapon + served almost exclusively for guarding palisades and gates. In the + 14th century a true lance came into use. Its length varied greatly, + and it had a hog-backed blade tempered almost as finely as the sword + itself. This, too, was a Chinese type, as was also the glaive. The + glaive (_naginata_, long sword) was a scimitar-like blade, some 3 ft. + in length, fixed on a slightly longer haft. Originally the warlike + monks alone employed this weapon, but from the 12th century it found + much favour among military men. Ultimately, however, its use may be + said to have been limited to women and priests. The spear, however, + formed a useful adjunct of the sword, for whereas the latter could not + be used except by troops in very loose formation, the former served + for close-order fighting. + + + Armour. + + Japanese armour (_gusoku_) may be broadly described as plate armour, + but the essential difference between it and the European type was + that, whereas the latter took its shape from the body, the former + neither resembled nor was intended to resemble ordinary garments. + Hence the only changes that occurred in Japanese armour from + generation to generation had their origin in improved methods of + construction. In general appearance it differed from the panoply of + all other nations, so that, although to its essential parts we may + apply with propriety the European terms--helmet, corselet, + &c.--individually and in combination these parts were not at all like + the originals of those names. Perhaps the easiest way of describing + the difference is to say that whereas a European knight seemed to be + clad in a suit of metal clothes, a Japanese samurai looked as if he + wore protective curtains. The Japanese armour was, in fact, suspended + from, rather than fitted to, the person. Only one of its elements + found a counterpart in the European suit, namely, a tabard, which, in + the case of men of rank, was made of the richest brocade. Iron and + leather were the chief materials, and as the laminae were strung + together with a vast number of coloured cords--silk or leather--an + appearance of considerable brilliancy was produced. Ornamentation did + not stop there. Plating and inlaying with gold and silver, and finely + wrought decoration in chiselled, inlaid and _repoussé_ work were + freely applied. On the whole, however, despite the highly artistic + character of its ornamentation, the loose, pendulous nature of + Japanese armour detracted greatly from its workmanlike aspect, + especially when the _horo_ was added--a curious appendage in the shape + of a curtain of fine transparent silk, which was either stretched in + front between the horns of the helmet and the tip of the bow, or worn + on the shoulders and back, the purpose in either case being to turn + the point of an arrow. A true samurai observed strict rules of + etiquette with regard even to the garments worn under his armour, and + it was part of his soldierly capacity to be able to bear the great + weight of the whole without loss of activity, a feat impossible to any + untrained man of modern days. Common soldiers were generally content + with a comparatively light helmet and a corselet. + + + War-horses. + + The Japanese never had a war-horse worthy to be so called. The + mis-shapen ponies which carried them to battle showed qualities of + hardiness and endurance, but were so deficient in stature and + massiveness that when mounted by a man in voluminous armour they + looked painfully puny. Nothing is known of the early Japanese saddle, + but at the beginning of historic times it approximated closely to the + Chinese type. Subsequently a purely Japanese shape was designed. It + consisted of a wooden frame so constructed that a padded numnah could + be fastened to it. Galled backs or withers were unknown with such a + saddle: it fitted any horse. The stirrup, originally a simple affair + resembling that of China and Europe, afterwards took the form of a + shoe-sole with upturned toe. Both stirrups and saddle-frame were often + of beautiful workmanship, the former covered with rich gold lacquer, + the latter inlaid with gold or silver. In the latter part of the + military epoch chain-armour was adopted for the horse, and its head + was protected by a monster-faced mask of iron. + + + Early Strategy and Tactics. + +Flags were used in battle as well as on ceremonial occasions. Some were +monochrome, as the red and white flags of the Taira and the Minamoto +clans in their celebrated struggle during the 12th century; and some +were streamers emblazoned with figures of the sun, the moon, a dragon, a +tiger and so forth, or with religious legends. Fans with iron ribs were +carried by commanding officers, and signals to advance or retreat were +given by beating drums and metal gongs and blowing conches. During the +military epoch a campaign was opened or a contest preluded by a human +sacrifice to the god of war, the victim at this rite of blood +(_chi-matsuri_) being generally a prisoner or a condemned criminal. +Although ambuscades and surprises played a large part in all strategy, +pitched battles were the general rule, and it was essential that notice +of an intention to attack should be given by discharging a singing +arrow. Thereafter the assaulting army, taking the word from its +commander, raised a shout of "Ei! Ei!" to which the other side replied, +and the formalities having been thus satisfied, the fight commenced. In +early medieval days tactics were of the crudest description. An army +consisted of a congeries of little bands, each under the order of a +chief who considered himself independent, and instead of subordinating +his movements to a general plan, struck a blow wherever he pleased. From +time immemorial a romantic value has attached in Japan to the first of +anything: the first snow of winter; the first water drawn from the well +on New Year's Day; the first blossom of the spring; the first note of +the nightingale. So in war the first to ride up to the foe or the +wielder of the first spear was held in high honour, and a samurai strove +for that distinction as his principal duty. It necessarily resulted, +too, not only from the nature of the weapons employed, but also from the +immense labour devoted by the true samurai to perfecting himself in +their use, that displays of individual prowess were deemed the chief +object in a battle. Some tactical formations borrowed from China were +familiar in Japan, but their intelligent use and their modification to +suit the circumstances of the time were inaugurated only by the great +captains of the 15th and 16th centuries. Prior to that epoch a battle +resembled a gigantic fencing match. Men fought as individuals, not as +units of a tactical formation, and the engagement consisted of a number +of personal duels, all in simultaneous progress. It was the samurai's +habit to proclaim his name and titles in the presence of the enemy, +sometimes adding from his own record or his father's any details that +might tend to dispirit his hearers. Then some one advancing to cross +weapons with him would perform the same ceremony of self-introduction, +and if either found anything to upbraid in the other's antecedents or +family history, he did not fail to make loud reference to it, such a +device being counted efficacious as a means of disturbing an adversary's +_sang-froid_, though the principle underlying the mutual introduction +was courtesy. The duellists could reckon on finishing their fight +undisturbed, but the victor frequently had to endure the combined +assault of a number of the comrades or retainers of the vanquished. Of +course a skilled swordsman did not necessarily seek a single combat; he +was equally ready to ride into the thick of the fight without +discrimination, and a group of common soldiers never hesitated to make a +united attack upon a mounted officer if they found him disengaged. But +the general feature of a battle was individual contests, and when the +fighting had ceased, each samurai proceeded to the tent[13] of the +commanding officer and submitted for inspection the heads of those whom +he had killed. + + + Change of Tactics. + +The disadvantage of such a mode of fighting was demonstrated for the +first time when the Mongols invaded Japan in 1274. The invaders moved in +phalanx, guarding themselves with pavises, and covering their advance +with a host of archers shooting clouds of poisoned arrows.[14] When a +Japanese samurai advanced singly and challenged one of them to combat, +they opened their ranks, enclosed the challenger and cut him to pieces. +Many Japanese were thus slain, and it was not until they made a +concerted movement of attack that they produced any effect upon the +enemy. But although the advantage of massing strength seems to have been +recognized, the Japanese themselves did not adopt the formation which +the Mongols had shown to be so formidable. Individual prowess continued +to be the prominent factor in battles down to a comparatively recent +period. The great captains Takeda Shingen and Uyesugi Kenshin are +supposed to have been Japan's pioneer tacticians. They certainly +appreciated the value of a formation in which the action of the +individual should be subordinated to the unity of the whole. But when it +is remembered that fire-arms had already been in the hands of the +Japanese for several years, and that they had means of acquainting +themselves with the tactics of Europe through their intercourse with +the Dutch, it is remarkable that the changes attributed to Takeda and +Uyesugi were not more drastic. Speaking broadly, what they did was to +organize a column with the musqueteers and archers in front; the +spearmen and swordsmen in the second line; the cavalry in the third +line; the commanding officer in the rear, and the drums and standards in +the centre. At close quarters the spear proved a highly effective +weapon, and in the days of Hideyoshi (1536-1598) combined flank and +front attacks by bands of spearmen became a favourite device. The +importance of a strong reserve also received recognition, and in theory, +at all events, a tolerably intelligent system of tactics was adopted. +But not until the close of the 17th century did the doctrine of strictly +disciplined action obtain practical vogue. Yamaga Soko is said to have +been the successful inculcator of this principle, and from his time the +most approved tactical formation was known as the _Yamagaryu_ (Yamaga +style), though it showed no other innovation than strict subordination +of each unit to the general plan. + + + Military Principles. + +Although, tactically speaking, the samurai was everything and the system +nothing before the second half of the 17th century, and although +strategy was chiefly a matter of deception, surprises and ambushes, it +must not be supposed that there were no classical principles. The +student of European military history searches in vain for the rules and +maxims of war so often invoked by glib critics, but the student of +Japanese history is more successful. Here, as in virtually every field +of things Japanese, retrospect discovers the ubiquitous Chinaman. The +treatises of Sung and 'Ng (called in Japan Son and Go) Chinese generals +of the third century after Christ, were the classics of Far-Eastern +captains through all generations. (See _The Book of War_, tr. E. F. +Calthrop, 1908.) Yoshitsune, in the 12th century, deceived a loving girl +to obtain a copy of Sung's work which her father had in his possession, +and Yamaga, in the 17th century, when he set himself to compose a book +on tactics, derived his materials almost entirely from the two Chinese +monographs. These treatises came into the hands of the Japanese in the +8th century, when the celebrated Kibi no Mabi went to study civilization +in China, just as his successors of the 19th century went to study a new +civilization in Europe and America. Thenceforth Son and Go became +household words among Japanese soldiers. Their volumes were to the +samurai what the _Mahayana_ was to the Buddhist. They were believed to +have collected whatever of good had preceded them, and to have forecast +whatever of good the future might produce. The character of their +strategic methods, somewhat analogous to those of 18th-century Europe, +may be gathered from the following:-- + + "An army undertaking an offensive campaign must be twice as numerous + as the enemy. A force investing a fortress should be numerically ten + times the garrison. When the adversary holds high ground, turn his + flank; do not deliver a frontal attack. When he has a mountain or a + river behind him, cut his lines of communication. If he deliberately + assumes a position from which victory is his only escape, hold him + there, but do not molest him. If you can surround him, leave one route + open for his escape, since desperate men fight fiercely. When you have + to cross a river, put your advance-guard and your rear-guard at a + distance from the banks. When the enemy has to cross a river, let him + get well engaged in the operation before you strike at him. In a + march, make celerity your first object. Pass no copse, enter no + ravine, nor approach any thicket until your scouts have explored it + fully." + +Such precepts are multiplied; but when these ancient authors discuss +tactical formations, they do not seem to have contemplated anything like +rapid, well-ordered changes of mobile, highly trained masses of men from +one formation to another, or their quick transfer from point to point of +a battlefield. The basis of their tactics is _The Book of Changes_. Here +again is encountered the superstition that underlies nearly all Chinese +and Japanese institutions: the superstition that took captive even the +great mind of Confucius. The positive and the negative principles; the +sympathetic and the antipathetic elements; cosmos growing out of chaos; +chaos re-absorbing cosmos--on such fancies they founded their tactical +system. The result was a phalanx of complicated organization, difficult +to manoeuvre and liable to be easily thrown into confusion. Yet when +Yamaga in the 17th century interpreted these ancient Chinese treatises, +he detected in them suggestions for a very shrewd use of the principle +of échelon, and applied it to devise formations which combined much of +the frontal expansion of the line with the solidity of the column. More +than that cannot be said for Japanese tactical genius. The samurai was +the best fighting unit in the Orient--probably one of the best fighting +units the world ever produced. It was perhaps because of that excellence +that his captains remained indifferent tacticians. + + + Ethics of the Samurai. + +In estimating the military capacity of the Japanese, it is essential to +know something of the ethical code of the samurai, the _bushido_ (way of +the warrior) as it was called. A typical example of the rules of conduct +prescribed by feudal chieftains is furnished in the code of Kato +Kiyomasa, a celebrated general of the 16th century:-- + + _Regulations for Samurai of every Rank; the Highest and Lowest alike._ + + 1. The routine of service must be strictly observed. From 6 a.m. + military exercises shall be practised. Archery, gunnery and + horsemanship must not be neglected. If any man shows exceptional + proficiency he shall receive extra pay. + + 2. Those that desire recreation may engage in hawking, deer-hunting or + wrestling. + + 3. With regard to dress, garments of cotton or pongee shall be worn. + Any man incurring debts owing to extravagance of costume or living + shall be considered a law-breaker. If, however, being zealous in the + practice of military arts suitable to his rank, he desires to hire + instructors, an allowance may be granted to him for that purpose. + + 4. The staple of diet shall be unhulled rice. At social entertainments + one guest for one host is the proper limit. Only when men are + assembled for military exercises shall many dine together. + + 5. It is the duty of every samurai to make himself acquainted with the + principles of his craft. Extravagant displays of adornment are + forbidden in battle. + + 6. Dancing or organizing dances is unlawful; it is likely to betray + sword-carrying men into acts of violence. Whatever a man does should + be done with his heart. Therefore for the soldier military amusements + alone are suitable. The penalty for violating this provision is death + by suicide. + + 7. Learning shall be encouraged. Military books must be read. The + spirit of loyalty and filial piety must be educated before all things. + Poem-composing pastimes are not to be engaged in by samurai. To be + addicted to such amusements is to resemble a woman. A man born a + samurai should live and die sword in hand. Unless he is thus trained + in time of peace, he will be useless in the hour of stress. To be + brave and warlike must be his invariable condition. + + 8. Whosoever finds these rules too severe shall be relieved from + service. Should investigation show that any one is so unfortunate as + to lack manly qualities, he shall be singled out and dismissed + forthwith. The imperative character of these instructions must not be + doubted. + +The plainly paramount purpose of these rules was to draw a sharp line of +demarcation between the samurai and the courtiers living in Kioto. The +dancing, the couplet-composing, the sumptuous living and the fine +costumes of the officials frequenting the imperial capital were strictly +interdicted by the feudatories. Frugality, fealty and filial +piety--these may be called the fundamental virtues of the samurai. Owing +to the circumstances out of which his caste had grown, he regarded all +bread-winning pursuits with contempt, and despised money. To be swayed +in the smallest degree by mercenary motives was despicable in his eyes. +Essentially a stoic, he made self-control the ideal of his existence, +and practised the courageous endurance of suffering so thoroughly that +he could without hesitation inflict on his own body pain of the most +horrible description. Nor can the courage of the samurai justly be +ascribed to bluntness of moral sensibility resulting from semi-savage +conditions of life. From the 8th century onwards the current of +existence in Japan set with general steadiness in the direction of +artistic refinement and voluptuous luxury, amidst which men could +scarcely fail to acquire habits and tastes inconsistent with acts of +high courage and great endurance. The samurai's mood was not a product +of semi-barbarism, but rather a protest against emasculating +civilization. He schooled himself to regard death by his own hand as a +normal eventuality. The story of other nations shows epochs when death +was welcomed as a relief and deliberately invited as a refuge from the +mere weariness of living. But wherever there has been liberty to choose, +and leisure to employ, a painless mode of exit from the world, men have +invariably selected it. The samurai, however, adopted in _harakiri_ +(disembowelment) a mode of suicide so painful and so shocking that to +school the mind to regard it with indifference and perform it without +flinching was a feat not easy to conceive. Assistance was often rendered +by a friend who stood ready to decapitate the victim immediately after +the stomach had been gashed; but there were innumerable examples of men +who consummated the tragedy without aid, especially when the sacrifice +of life was by way of protest against the excesses of a feudal chief or +the crimes of a ruler, or when some motive for secrecy existed. It must +be observed that the suicide of the samurai was never inspired by any +doctrine like that of Hegesias. Death did not present itself to him as a +legitimate means of escaping from the cares and disappointments of life. +Self-destruction had only one consolatory aspect, that it was the +soldier's privilege to expiate a crime with his own sword, not under the +hand of the executioner. It rested with his feudal chief to determine +his guilt, and his peremptory duty was never to question the justice of +an order to commit suicide, but to obey without murmur or protest. For +the rest, the general motives for suicide were to escape falling into +the hands of a victorious enemy, to remonstrate against some official +abuse which no ordinary complaint could reach, or, by means of a dying +protest, to turn a liege lord from pursuing courses injurious to his +reputation and his fortune. This last was the noblest and by no means +the most infrequent reason for suicide. Scores of examples are recorded +of men who, with everything to make existence desirable, deliberately +laid down their lives at the prompting of loyalty. Thus the samurai rose +to a remarkable height of moral nobility. He had no assurance that his +death might not be wholly fruitless, as indeed it often proved. If the +sacrifice achieved its purpose, if it turned a liege lord from evil +courses, the samurai could hope that his memory would be honoured. But +if the lord resented such a violent and conspicuous mode of reproving +his excesses, then the faithful vassal's retribution would be an +execrated memory and, perhaps, suffering for his family and relatives. +Yet the deed was performed again and again. It remains to be noted that +the samurai entertained a high respect for the obligations of truth; "A +bushi has no second word," was one of his favourite mottoes. However, a +reservation is necessary here. The samurai's doctrine was not truth for +truth's sake, but truth for the sake of the spirit of uncompromising +manliness on which he based all his code of morality. A pledge or a +promise must never be broken, but the duty of veracity did not override +the interests or the welfare of others. Generosity to a defeated foe was +also one of the tenets of the samurai's ethics. History contains many +instances of the exercise of that quality. + + + Religious Influence. + +Something more, however, than a profound conception of duty was needed +to nerve the samurai for sacrifices such as he seems to have been always +ready to make. It is true that Japanese parents of the military class +took pains to familiarize their children of both sexes from very tender +years with the idea of self-destruction at any time. But superadded to +the force of education and the incentive of tradition there was a +transcendental influence. Buddhism supplied it. The tenets of that creed +divided themselves, broadly speaking, into two doctrines, salvation by +faith and salvation by works, and the chief exponent of the latter +principle is the sect which prescribes meditation as the vehicle of +enlightenment. Whatever be the mental processes induced by this rite, +those who have practised it insist that it leads finally to a state of +absorption, in which the mind is flooded by an illumination revealing +the universe in a new aspect, absolutely free from all traces of +passion, interest or affection, and showing, written across everything +in flaming letters, the truth that for him who has found Buddha there is +neither birth nor death, growth nor decay. Lifted high above his +surroundings, he is prepared to meet every fate with indifference. The +attainment of that state seems to have been a fact in the case both of +the samurai of the military epoch and of the Japanese soldier to-day. + + + Abolition of the Samurai. + +The policy of seclusion adopted by the Tokugawa administration after the +Shimabara insurrection included an order that no samurai should acquire +foreign learning. Nevertheless some knowledge could not fail to filter +in through the Dutch factory at Deshima, and thus, a few years before +the advent of the American ships, Takashima Shuhan, governor of +Nagasaki, becoming persuaded of the fate his country must invite if she +remained oblivious of the world's progress, memorialized the Yedo +government in the sense that, unless Japan improved her weapons of war +and reformed her military system, she could not escape humiliation such +as had just overtaken China. He obtained small arms and field-guns of +modern type from Holland, and, repairing to Yedo with a company of men +trained according to the new tactics, he offered an object lesson for +the consideration of the conservative officials. They answered by +throwing him into prison. But Egawa, one of his retainers, proved a +still more zealous reformer, and his foresight being vindicated by the +appearance of the American war-vessels in 1853, he won the government's +confidence and was entrusted with the work of planning and building +forts at Shinagawa and Shimoda. At Egawa's instance rifles and cannon +were imported largely from Europe, and their manufacture was commenced +in Japan, a powder-mill also being established with machinery obtained +from Holland. Finally, in 1862, the shogun's government adopted the +military system of the West, and organized three divisions of all arms, +with a total strength of 13,600 officers and men. Disbanded at the fall +of the shogunate in 1867, this force nevertheless served as a model for +a similar organization under the imperial government, and in the +meanwhile the principal fiefs had not been idle, some--as +Satsuma--adopting English tactics, others following France or Germany, +and a few choosing Dutch. There appeared upon the stage at this juncture +a great figure in the person of Omura Masujiro, a samurai of the Choshu +clan. He established Japan's first military school at Kioto in 1868; he +attempted to substitute for the hereditary soldier conscripts taken from +all classes of the people, and he conceived the plan of dividing the +whole empire into six military districts. An assassin's dagger removed +him on the threshold of these great reforms, but his statue now stands +in Tokyo and his name is spoken with reverence by all his countrymen. In +1870 Yamagata Aritomo (afterwards Field-Marshal Prince Yamagata) and +Saigo Tsugumichi (afterwards Field-Marshal Marquis Saigo) returned from +a tour of military inspection in Europe, and in 1872 they organized a +corps of Imperial guards, taken from the three clans which had been +conspicuous in the work of restoring the administrative power to the +sovereign, namely, the clans of Satsuma, Choshu and Tosa. They also +established garrisons in Tokyo, Sendai, Osaka and Kumamoto, thus placing +the military authority in the hands of the central government. Reforms +followed quickly. In 1872, the _hyobusho_, an office which controlled +all matters relating to war, was replaced by two departments, one of war +and one of the navy, and, in 1873, an imperial decree substituted +universal conscription for the system of hereditary militarism. Many +persons viewed this experiment with deep misgiving. They feared that it +would not only alienate the samurai, but also entrust the duty of +defending the country to men unfitted by tradition and custom for such a +task, namely, the farmers, artisans and tradespeople, who, after +centuries of exclusion from the military pale, might be expected to have +lost all martial spirit. The government, however, was not deterred by +these apprehensions. It argued that since the distinction of samurai and +commoner had not originally existed, and since the former was a product +simply of accidental conditions, there was no valid reason to doubt the +military capacity of the people at large. The justice of this reasoning +was put to a conclusive test a few years later. Originally the period of +service with the colours was fixed at 3 years, that of service with the +first and second reserves being 2 years each. One of the serious +difficulties encountered at the outset was that samurai conscripts were +too proud to stand in the ranks with common rustics or artisans, and +above all to obey the commands of plebeian officers. But patriotism soon +overcame this obstacle. The whole country--with the exception of the +northern island, Yezo--was parcelled out into six military districts +(headquarters Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Sendai, Hiroshima and Kumamoto) each +furnishing a division of all arms and services. There was also from 1876 +a guards division in Tokyo. The total strength on a peace footing was +31,680 of all arms, and on a war footing, 46,350. The defence of Yezo +was entrusted to a colonial militia. It may well be supposed that to +find competent officers for this army greatly perplexed its organizers. +The military school--now in Tokyo but originally founded by Omura in +Kioto--had to turn out graduates at high pressure, and private soldiers +who showed any special aptitude were rapidly promoted to positions of +command. French military instructors were engaged, and the work of +translating manuals was carried out with all celerity. In 1877, this new +army of conscripts had to endure a crucial test: it had to take the +field against the Satsuma samurai, the very flower of their class, who +in that year openly rebelled against the Tokyo government. The campaign +lasted eight months; as there had not yet been time to form the +reserves, the Imperial forces were soon seriously reduced in number by +casualties in the field and by disease, the latter claiming many victims +owing to defective commissariat. It thus became necessary to have +recourse to volunteers, but as these were for the most part samurai, the +expectation was that their hereditary instinct of fighting would +compensate for lack of training. That expectation was not fulfilled. +Serving side by side in the field, the samurai volunteer and the +heimin[15] regular were found to differ by precisely the degree of their +respective training. The fact was thus finally established that the +fighting qualities of the farmer and artisan reached as high a standard +as those of the bushi. + + Thenceforth the story of the Japanese army is one of steady progress + and development. In 1878, the military duties of the empire were + divided among three offices: namely, the army department, the general + staff and the inspection department, while the six divisions of troops + were organized into three army corps. + + In 1879, the total period of colour and reserve service became 10 + years. In 1883 the period was extended to 12 years, the list of + exemptions was abbreviated, and above all substitution was no longer + allowed. Great care was devoted to the training of officers; promotion + went by merit, and at least ten of the most promising officers were + sent abroad every year to study. A comprehensive system of education + for the rank and file was organized. Great difficulty was experienced + in procuring horses suitable for cavalry, and indeed the Japanese army + long remained weak in this arm. In 1886, the whole littoral of the + empire was divided into five districts, each with its admiralty and + its naval port, and the army being made responsible for coast defence, + a battery construction corps was formed. Moreover, an exhaustive + scheme was elaborated to secure full co-operation between the army and + navy. In 1888 the seven divisions of the army first found themselves + prepared to take the field, and, in 1893, a revised system of + mobilization was sanctioned, to be put into operation the following + year, for the Chino-Japanese War (q.v.). At this period the division, + mobilized for service in the field, consisted of 12 battalions of + infantry, 3 troops of cavalry, 4 batteries of field and 2 of mountain + artillery, 2 companies of sappers and train, totalling 18,492 of all + arms with 5633 horses. The guards had only 8 battalions and 4 + batteries (field). The field army aggregated over 120,000, with 168 + field and 72 mountain guns, and the total of all forces, field, + garrison and dépôt, was 220,580 of all arms, with 47,220 horses and + 294 guns. Owing, however, to various modifications necessitated by + circumstances, the numbers actually on duty were over 240,000, with + 6495 non-combatant employees and about 100,000 coolies who acted as + carriers. The infantry were armed with the Murata single-loader rifle, + but the field artillery was inferior, and the only two divisions + equipped with magazine rifles and smokeless powder never came into + action. The experiences gained in this war bore large fruit. The total + term of service with the colours and the reserves was slightly + increased; the colonial militia of Yezo (Hokkaido) was organized as a + seventh line division; 5 new divisions were added, bringing the whole + number of divisions to 13 (including the guards); a mixed brigade was + stationed in Formosa (then newly added to Japan's dominions); a high + military council composed of field-marshals was created; the cavalry + was brigaded; the garrison artillery was increased; strenuous efforts + were made to improve the education of officers and men; and lastly, + sanitary arrangements underwent much modification. An arsenal had been + established in Tokyo, in 1868, for the manufacture of small arms and + small-arm ammunition; this was followed by an arsenal in Osaka for the + manufacture of guns and gun-ammunition; four powder factories were + opened, and in later years big-gun factories at Kure and Mororan. + Japan was able to make 12-inch guns in 1902, and her capacity for this + kind of work was in 1909 second to none. She has her own patterns of + rifle and field gun, so that she is independent of foreign aid so far + as armaments are concerned. In 1900, she sent a force to North China + to assist in the campaign for the relief of the foreign legations in + Peking, and on that occasion her troops were able to observe at first + hand the qualities and methods of European soldiers. In 1904 took + place the great war with Russia (see RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR). After the + war important changes were made in the direction of augmenting and + improving the armed forces. The number of divisions was increased to + 19 (including the guards), of which one division is for service in + Korea and one for service in Manchuria. Various technical corps were + organized, as well as horse artillery, heavy field artillery and + machine-gun units. The field-gun was replaced by a quick-firer + manufactured at Osaka, and much attention was given to the question of + remounts--for, both in the war with China and in that with Russia, the + horsing of the cavalry had been poor. Perhaps the most far-reaching + change in all armies of late years is the shortening of the term of + service with the colours to 2 years for the infantry, 3 years + remaining the rule for other arms. This was adopted by Japan after the + war, the infantry period of service with the reserves being extended + to 14{1/3} years, and of course has the effect of greatly augmenting + the potential war strength. As to this, figures are kept secret, nor + can any accurate approximation be attempted without danger of error. + Rough estimates of Japan's war strength have, however, been made, + giving 550,000 as the war strength of the first line army, plus 34,000 + for garrisons overseas and 150,000 special reserves (_hoju_); 370,000 + second line or _kobi_, and 110,000 for the fully trained portion of + the territorial forces, or _Kokumin-hei_. All these branches can + further draw upon half-trained elements to the number of about 800,000 + to replace losses. Japan's available strength in the last resort for + home defence was recently (1909) stated by the Russian _Novoye Vremya_ + at 3,000,000. In 20 years, when the present system has produced its + full effect, the first line should be 740,000 strong, the second line + 780,000, and the third line about 3,850,000 (3,000,000 untrained and + 850,000 partly trained). Details can be found in _Journal of the R. + United Service Institution_, Dec. 1909-Jan. 1910. + + + Recruiting. + + At 20 years of age every Japanese subject, of whatever status, becomes + liable for military service. But the difficulty of making service + universal in the case of a growing population is felt here as in + Europe, and practically the system has elements of the old-fashioned + conscription. The minimum height is 5.2 ft. (artillery and engineers, + 5.4 ft.). There are four principal kinds of service, namely, service + with the colours (_genyeki_), for two years; service with the first + reserves (_yobi_), for 7{1/3} years; service with the second reserves + (_kobi_), for 7 years; and service with the territorial troops (_ko + kumin-hei_) up to the age of 40. Special reserve (_hoju_) takes up men + who, though liable for conscription and medically qualified, have + escaped the lot for service with the colours. It consists of two + classes, one of men remaining in the category of _hoju_ for 7{1/3} + years, the other for 1{1/3} year, before passing into the territorial + army. Their purpose is similar to that of special or _ersatz_ reserves + elsewhere. The first class receives the usual short initial training. + Men of the second class, in ordinary circumstances, pass, after their + 1{1/3} year's inability, to the territorial army untrained. As for the + first and second general reserves (_yobi_ and _kobi_), each is called + out twice during its full term for short "refresher" courses. After + reaching the territorial army a man is relieved from all further + training. The total number of youths eligible for conscription each + year is about 435,000, but the annual contingent for full service is + not much more than 100,000. Conscripts in the active army may be + discharged before the expiration of two years if their conduct and + aptitude are exceptional. + + A youth is exempted if it be clearly established[16] that his family + is dependent upon his earnings. Except for permanent deformities men + are put back for one year before being finally rejected on medical + grounds. Men who have been convicted of crime are disqualified, but + those who have been temporarily deprived of civil rights must present + themselves for conscription at the termination of their sentence. + Educated men may enrol themselves as one-year volunteers instead of + drawing lots, this privilege of entry enduring up to the age of 28, + after which, service for the full term without drawing lots is + imposed. Residence in a foreign country secures exemption up to the + age of 32--provided that official permission to go abroad has been + obtained. A man returning after the age of 32 is drafted into the + territorial army, but if he returns before that age he must volunteer + to receive training, otherwise he is taken without lot for service + with the colours. The system of volunteering is largely resorted to by + persons of the better classes. Any youth who possesses certain + educational qualifications is entitled to volunteer for training. If + accepted after medical inspection, he serves with the colours for one + year, during three months of which time he must live in + barracks--unless a special permit be granted by his commanding + officer. A volunteer has to contribute to his maintenance and + equipment, although youths who cannot afford the full expense, if + otherwise qualified, are assisted by the state. At the conclusion of a + year's training the volunteer is drafted into the first reserve for 6¼ + years, and then into the second reserve for 5 years, so that his total + period (12¼ years) of service before passing into the territorial army + is the same as that of an ordinary conscript. The main purpose of the + one-year voluntariat, as in Germany, is to provide officers for the + reserves to territorial troops. Qualified teachers in the public + service are only liable to a very short initial training, after which + they pass at once into the territorial army. But if a teacher abandons + that calling before the age of 28, he becomes liable, without lot,[17] + to two years with the colours, unless he adopts the alternative of + volunteering. + + + Officers. + + Officers are obtained in two ways. There are six local preparatory + cadet schools (_yonen-gakko_) in various parts of the empire, for boys + of from 13 to 15. After 3 years at one of these schools[18] a graduate + spends 21 months at the central preparatory school + (_chuo-yonen-gakko_), Tokyo, and if he graduates with sufficient + credit at the latter institution, he becomes eligible for admission to + the officers' college (_shikan-gakko_) without further test of + proficiency. The second method of obtaining officers is by competitive + examination for direct admission to the officers' college. In either + case the cadet is sent to serve with the colours for 6 to 12 months as + a private and non-commissioned officer, before commencing his course + at the officers' college. The period of study at the officers' college + is one year, and after graduating successfully the cadet serves with + troops for 6 months on probation. If at the end of that time he is + favourably reported on, he is commissioned as a sub-lieutenant. Young + officers of engineers and artillery receive a year's further training + at a special college. Officers' ranks are the same as in the British + army, but the nomenclature is more simple. The terms, with their + English equivalents, are _shoi_ (second lieutenant), _chui_ (first + lieutenant), _tai_ (captain), _shosa_ (major), _chusa_ + (lieut.-colonel), _taisa_ (colonel), _shosho_ (major-general), _chujo_ + (lieut.-general), _taisho_ (general), _gensui_ (field-marshal). All + these except the last apply to the same relative ranks in the navy. + Promotion of officers in the junior grades is by seniority or merit, + but after the rank of captain all promotion is by merit, and thus many + officers never rise higher than captain, in which case retirement is + compulsory at the age of 48. Except in the highest ranks, a certain + minimum period has to be spent in each rank before promotion to the + next. + + + Soldiers. + + There are three grades of privates: upper soldiers (_joto-hei_), + first-class soldiers (_itto-sotsu_), and second-class soldiers + (_nito-sotsu_). A private on joining is a second-class soldier. For + proficiency and good conduct he is raised to the rank of first-class + soldier, and ultimately to that of upper soldier. Non-commissioned + officers are obtained from the ranks, or from those who wish to make + soldiering a profession, as in European armies. The grades are + corporal (_gocho_), sergeant (_gunso_), sergeant-major (_socho_) and + special sergeant-major (_tokumu-socho_). + + The pay of the conscript is, as it is everywhere, a trifle (1s. + 10d.-3s. 0½d. per month). The professional non-commissioned officers + are better paid, the lowest grade receiving three times as much as an + upper soldier. Officers' pay is roughly at about three-quarters of the + rates prevailing in Germany, sub-lieutenants receiving about £34, + captains £71, colonels £238 per annum, &c. Pensions for officers and + non-commissioned officers, according to scale, can be claimed after 11 + years' colour service. + + The emperor is the commander-in-chief of the army, and theoretically + the sole source of military authority, which he exercises through a + general staff and a war department, with the assistance of a board of + field-marshals (_gensuifu_). The general staff has for chief a + field-marshal, and for vice-chief a general or lieutenant-general. It + includes besides the usual general staff departments, various survey + and topographical officers, and the military college is under its + direction. The war department is presided over by a general officer on + the active list, who is a member of the cabinet without being + necessarily affected by ministerial changes. There are, further, + artillery and engineer committees, and a remount bureau. The + headquarters of coast defences under general officers are Tokyo, + Yokohama, Shimonoseki and Yura. The whole empire is divided into three + military districts--eastern, central and western--each under the + command of a general or lieutenant-general. The divisional + headquarters are as follows:--Guard Tokyo, I. Tokyo, II. Sendai, III. + Nagoya, IV. Wakayama, V. Hiroshima, VI. Kumamoto, VII. Asahikawa, + VIII. Hirosaki, IX. Kasanava, X. Himeji, XI. Senzui, XII. Kokura, + XIII. Takata, XIV. Utsonomia, XV. Fushimi, XVI. Kioto, XVII. Okayama, + XVIII. Kurume. Some of these divisions are permanently on foreign + service, but their recruiting areas in Japan are maintained. There are + also four cavalry brigades, and a number of unassigned regiments of + field and mountain artillery, as well as garrison artillery and army + technical troops. The organization of the active army by regiments is + 176 infantry regiments of 3 battalions; 27 cavalry regiments; 30 field + artillery regiments each of 6 and 3 mountain artillery regiments each + of 3 batteries; 6 regiments and 6 battalions of siege, heavy field and + fortress artillery; 20 battalions engineers; 19 supply and transport + battalions. + + + Medical Service. + + The medical service is exceptionally well organized. It received + unstinted praise from European and American experts who observed it + closely during the wars of 1900 and 1904-5. The establishment of + surgeons to each division is approximately 100, and arrangements + complete in every detail are made for all lines of medical assistance. + Much help is rendered by the red cross society of Japan, which has an + income of 2,000,000 yen annually, a fine hospital in Tokyo, a large + nursing staff and two specially built and equipped hospital ships. + During the early part of the campaign in Pechili, in 1900, the French + column entrusted its wounded to the care of the Japanese. + + + Supply. + + The staple article of commissariat for a Japanese army in the field is + _hoshii_ (dried rice), of which three days' supply can easily be + carried in a bag by the soldier. When required for use the rice, being + placed in water, swells to its original bulk, and is eaten with a + relish of salted fish, dried sea-weed or pickled plums. The task of + provisioning an army on these lines is comparatively simple. The + Japanese soldier, though low in stature, is well set up, muscular and + hardy. He has great powers of endurance, and manoeuvres with + remarkable celerity, doing everything at the run, if necessary, and + continuing to run without distress for a length of time astonishing to + European observers. He is greatly subject, however, to attacks of + _kakke_ (beri-beri), and if he has recourse to meat diet, which + appears to be the best preventive, he will probably lose something of + his capacity for prolonged rapid movement. He attacks with apparent + indifference to danger, preserves his cheerfulness amid hardships, is + splendidly patriotic and has always shown himself thoroughly amenable + to discipline. + + + Military Schools. + + Of the many educational and training establishments, the most + important is the _rikugun daigakko_, or army college, where officers, + (generally subalterns), are prepared for service in the upper ranks + and for staff appointments, the course of study extending over three + years. The Toyama school stands next in importance. The courses + pursued there are attended chiefly by subaltern officers of dismounted + branches, non-commissioned officers also being allowed to take the + musketry course. The term of training is five months. Young officers + of the scientific branches are instructed at the _hokogakko_ (school + of artillery and engineers). There are, further, two special schools + of gunnery--one for field, the other for garrison artillery, attended + chiefly by captains and senior subalterns of the two branches. There + is an inspection department of military education, the + inspector-general being a lieutenant-general, under whom are fifteen + field and general officers, who act as inspectors of the various + schools and colleges and of military educational matters in general. + + The Japanese officer's pay is small and his mode of life frugal. He + lives out of barracks, frequently with his own family. His uniform is + plain and inexpensive,[19] and he has no desire to exchange it for + mufti. He has no mess expenses, contribution to a band, or luxuries of + any kind, and as he is nearly always without private means to + supplement his pay, his habits are thoroughly economical. He devotes + himself absolutely to his profession, living for nothing else, and + since he is strongly imbued with an effective conception of the honour + of his cloth, instances of his incurring disgrace by debt or + dissipation are exceptional. The samurai may be said to have been + revived in the officers of the modern army, who preserve and act up to + all the old traditions. The system of promotion has evidently much to + do with this good result, for no Japanese officer can hope to rise + above the rank of captain unless, by showing himself really zealous + and capable, he obtains from his commanding officer the recommendation + without which all higher educational opportunities are closed to him. + Yet promotion by merit has not degenerated into promotion by favour, + and corruption appears to be virtually absent. In the stormiest days + of parliamentary warfare, when charges of dishonesty were freely + preferred by party politicians against all departments of officialdom, + no whisper ever impeached the integrity of army officers. + + The training of the troops is thorough and strictly progressive, the + responsibility of the company, squadron and battery commanders for the + training of their commands, and the latitude granted them in choice of + means being, as in Germany, the keystone of the system. + + + Foreign Assistance. + + Originally the government engaged French officers to assist in + organizing the army and elaborating its system of tactics and + strategy, and during several years a military mission of French + officers resided in Tokyo and rendered valuable aid to the Japanese. + Afterwards German officers were employed, with Jakob Meckel at their + head, and they left a perpetually grateful memory. But ultimately the + services of foreigners were dispensed with altogether, and Japan now + adopts the plan of sending picked men to complete their studies in + Europe. Up to 1904 she followed Germany in military matters almost + implicitly, but since then, having the experience of her own great war + to guide her, she has, instead of modelling herself on any one foreign + system, chosen from each whatever seemed most desirable, and also, in + many points, taken the initiative herself. + + + Military Finance. + + When the power of the sword was nominally restored to the Imperial + government in 1868, the latter planned to devote one-fourth of the + state's ordinary revenue to the army and navy. Had the estimated + revenue accrued, this would have given a sum of about 3 millions + sterling for the two services. But not until 1871, when the troops of + the fiefs were finally disbanded, did the government find itself in a + position to include in the annual budgets an adequate appropriation on + account of armaments. Thenceforth, from 1872 to 1896, the ordinary + expenditures of the army varied from three-quarters of a million + sterling to 1½ millions, and the extraordinary outlays ranged from a + few thousands of pounds to a quarter of a million. Not once in the + whole period of 25 years--if 1877 (the year of the Satsuma rebellion) + be excepted--did the state's total expenditures on account of the army + exceed 1½ millions sterling, and it redounds to the credit of Japan's + financial management that she was able to organize, equip and maintain + such a force at such a small cost. In 1896, as shown above, she + virtually doubled her army, and a proportionate increase of + expenditure ensued, the outlays for maintenance jumping at once from + an average of about 1¼ millions sterling to 2¼ millions, and growing + thenceforth with the organization of the new army, until in the year + (1903) preceding the outbreak of war with Russia, they reached the + figure of 4 millions. Then again, in 1906, six divisions were added, + and additional expenses had to be incurred on account of the new + overseas garrisons, so that, in 1909, the ordinary outlays reached a + total of 7 millions, or about one-seventh of the ordinary revenue of + the state. This takes no account of extraordinary outlays incurred for + building forts and barracks, providing new patterns of equipment, &c. + In 1909 the latter, owing to the necessity of replacing the weapons + used in the Russian War, and in particular the field artillery gun + (which was in 1905 only a semi-quickfirer), involved a relatively + large outlay. + + + Early Japanese War-vessels. + +_The Navy._--The traditions of Japan suggest that the art of navigation +was not unfamiliar to the inhabitants of a country consisting of +hundreds of islands and abounding in bays and inlets. Some interpreters +of her cosmography discover a great ship in the "floating bridge of +heaven" from which the divine procreators of the islands commenced their +work, and construe in a similar sense other poetically named vehicles of +that remote age. But though the seas were certainly traversed by the +early invaders of Japan, and though there is plenty of proof that in +medieval times the Japanese flag floated over merchantmen which voyaged +as far as Siam and India, and over piratical craft which harassed the +coasts of Korea and China, it is unquestionable that in the matter of +naval architecture Japan fell behind even her next-door neighbours. +Thus, when a Mongol fleet came to Kiushiu in the 13th century, Japan had +no vessels capable of contending against the invaders, and when, at the +close of the 16th century, a Japanese army was fighting in Korea, +repeated defeats of Japan's squadrons by Korean war-junks decided the +fate of the campaign on shore as well as on sea. It seems strange that +an enterprising nation like the Japanese should not have taken for +models the great galleons which visited the Far East in the second half +of the 16th century under the flags of Spain, Portugal, Holland and +England. With the exception, however, of two ships built by a castaway +English pilot to order of Iyeyasu, no effort in that direction appears +to have been made, and when an edict vetoing the construction of +sea-going vessels was issued in 1636 as part of the Tokugawa policy of +isolation, it can scarcely be said to have checked the growth of Japan's +navy, for she possessed nothing worthy of the name. It was to the object +lesson furnished by the American ships which visited Yedo bay in 1853 +and to the urgent counsels of the Dutch that Japan owed the inception of +a naval policy. A seamen's training station was opened under Dutch +instructors in 1855 at Nagasaki, a building-slip was constructed and an +iron factory established at the same place, and shortly afterwards a +naval school was organized at Tsukiji in Yedo, a war-ship the "Kwanko +Maru"[20]--presented by the Dutch to the shogun's government--being used +for exercising the cadets. To this vessel two others, purchased from the +Dutch, were added in 1857 and 1858, and these, with one given by Queen +Victoria, formed the nucleus of Japan's navy. In 1860, we find the +Pacific crossed for the first time by a Japanese war-ship--the "Kwanrin +Maru"--and subsequently some young officers were sent to Holland for +instruction in naval science. In fact the Tokugawa statesmen had now +thoroughly appreciated the imperative need of a navy. Thus, in spite of +domestic unrest which menaced the very existence of the Yedo government, +a dockyard was established and fully equipped, the place chosen as its +site being, by a strange coincidence, the village of Yokosuka where +Japan's first foreign ship-builder, Will Adams, had lived and died 250 +years previously. This dockyard was planned and its construction +superintended by a Frenchman, M. Bertin. But although the Dutch had been +the first to advise Japan's acquisition of a navy, and although French +aid was sought in the case of the important and costly work at Yokosuka, +the shogun's government turned to England for teachers of the art of +maritime warfare. Captain Tracey, R.N., and other British officers and +warrant-officers were engaged to organize and superintend the school at +Tsukiji. They arrived, however, on the eve of the fall of the Tokugawa +shogunate, and as the new administration was not prepared to utilize +their services immediately, they returned to England. It is not to be +inferred that the Imperial government underrated the importance of +organizing a naval force. One of the earliest Imperial rescripts ranked +a navy among "the country's most urgent needs" and ordered that it +should be "at once placed on a firm foundation." But during the four +years immediately subsequent to the restoration, a semi-interregnum +existed in military affairs, the power of the sword being partly +transferred to the hands of the sovereign and partly retained by the +feudal chiefs. Ultimately, not only the vessels which had been in the +possession of the shogunate but also several obtained from Europe by the +great feudatories had to be taken over by the Imperial government, +which, on reviewing the situation, found itself owner of a motley +squadron of 17 war-ships aggregating 13,812 tons displacement, of which +two were armoured, one was a composite ship, and the rest were of wood. +Steps were now taken to establish and equip a suitable naval college in +Tsukiji, and application having been made to the British government for +instructors, a second naval mission was sent from England in 1873, +consisting of 30 officers and warrant-officers under Commander +(afterwards Vice-Admiral Sir) Archibald Douglas. At the very outset +occasions for active service afloat presented themselves. In 1868, the +year after the fall of the shogunate, such ships as could be assembled +had to be sent to Yezo to attack the main part of the Tokugawa squadron +which had raised the flag of revolt and retired to Hakodate under the +command of the shogun's admiral, Enomoto. Then in 1874 the duty of +convoying a fleet of transports to Formosa had to be undertaken; and in +1877 sea power played its part in crushing the formidable rebellion in +Satsuma. Meanwhile the work of increasing and organizing the navy went +on steadily. The first steam war-ship constructed in Japan had been a +gunboat (138 tons) launched in 1866 from a building-yard established at +Ishikawajima, an island near the mouth of the Sumida river on which +Tokyo stands. At this yard and at Yokosuka two vessels of 897 tons and +1450 tons, respectively, were launched in 1875 and 1876, and Japan now +found herself competent not only to execute all repairs but also to +build ships of considerable size. An order was placed in England in +1875, which produced, three years later, the "Fuso," Japan's first +ironclad (3717 tons) and the "Kongo" and "Hiei," steel-frame +sister-cruisers of 2248 tons. Meanwhile training, practical and +theoretical, in seamanship, gunnery, torpedo-practice and naval +architecture went on vigorously, and in 1878 the Japanese flag was for +the first time seen in European waters, floating over the cruiser +"Seiki" (1897 tons) built in Japan and navigated solely by Japanese. The +government, constantly solicitous of increasing the fleet, inaugurated, +in 1882, a programme of 30 cruisers and 12 torpedo-boats, and in 1886 +this was extended, funds being obtained by an issue of naval loan-bonds. +But the fleet did not yet include a single battleship. When the diet +opened for the first time in 1890, a plan for the construction of two +battleships encountered stubborn opposition in the lower house, where +the majority attached much less importance to voting money for war-ships +than to reducing the land tax. Not until 1892 was this opposition +overcome in deference to an order from the throne that thirty thousand +pounds sterling should be contributed yearly from the privy purse and +that a tithe of all official salaries should be devoted during the same +interval to naval needs. Had the house been more prescient, Japan's +position at the outbreak of war with China in 1894 would have been very +different. She entered the contest with 28 fighting craft, aggregating +57,600 tons, and 24 torpedo-boats, but among them the most powerful was +a belted cruiser of 4300 tons. Not one battleship was included, whereas +China had two ironclads of nearly 8000 tons each. Under these conditions +the result of the naval conflict was awaited with much anxiety in Japan. +But the Chinese suffered signal defeats (see CHINO-JAPANESE WAR) off the +Yalu and at Wei-hai-wei, and the victors took possession of 17 Chinese +craft, including one battleship. The resulting addition to Japan's +fighting force was, however, insignificant. But the naval strength of +Japan did not depend on prizes. Battleships and cruisers were ordered +and launched in Europe one after the other, and when the Russo-Japanese +War (q.v.) came, the fleet promptly asserted its physical and moral +superiority in the surprise of Port Arthur, the battle of the 10th of +August 1904, and the crowning victory of Tsushima. + + As to the development of the navy from 1903 onwards, it is not + possible to detail with absolute accuracy the plans laid down by the + admiralty in Tokyo, but the actual state of the fleet in the year 1909 + will be apparent from the figures given below. + + Japan's naval strength at the outbreak of the war with Russia in 1904 + was:-- + + Number. Displacement. + Tons. + + Battleships 6 84,652 + Armoured cruisers 8 73,982 + Other cruisers 44 111,470 + Destroyers 19 6,519 + Torpedo-boats 80 7,119 + -- ------- + Totals 157 283,742 + + Losses during the war were:-- + + Battleships 2 27,300 + Cruisers (second + and smaller classes) 8 18,009 + Destroyers 2 705 + Torpedo-boats 7 557 + -- ------ + Totals 19 46,571 + + The captured vessels repaired and added to the fleet were:-- + + Battleships 5 62,524 + Cruisers 11 71,276 + Destroyers 5 1,740 + -- ------- + Totals 21 135,530 + + The vessels built or purchased after the war and up to the close of + 1908 were:-- + + Battleships 4 71,500 + Armoured cruisers 4 56,700 + Other cruisers 5 7,000 + Destroyers 33 12,573 + Torpedo-boats 5 760 + -- ------- + Totals 51 148,533 + + Some of the above have been superannuated, and the serviceable fleet + in 1909 was:-- + + Battleships 13 191,380 + Armoured cruisers 12 130,683 + Other cruisers, coast- + defence ships and + gun-boats 47 165,253 + Destroyers 55 20,508 + Torpedo-boats 77 7,258 + --- ------- + Totals 204 515,082 + + To the foregoing must be added two armoured cruisers--the "Kurama" + (14,000) launched at Yokosuka in October 1907, and the "Ibuki" + (14,700) launched at Kure in November 1907, but no other battleships + or cruisers were laid down in Japan or ordered abroad up to the close + of 1908. + + + Naval Dockyards. + + There are four naval dockyards, namely, at Yokosuka, Kure, Sasebo and + Maizuru. Twenty-one vessels built at Yokosuka since 1876 included a + battleship (19,000 tons) and an armoured cruiser (14,000 tons); seven + built at Kure since 1898 included a battleship (19,000 tons) and an + armoured cruiser (14,000 tons). The yards at Sasebo and Maizuru had + not yet been used in 1909 for constructing large vessels. Two private + yards--the Mitsubishi at Nagasaki and Kobe, and the Kawasaki at the + latter place--have built several cruisers, gun-boats and torpedo + craft, and are competent to undertake more important work. + Nevertheless in 1909 Japan did not yet possess complete independence + in this matter, for she was obliged to have recourse to foreign + countries for a part of the steel used in ship-building. Kure + manufactures practically all the steel it requires, and there is a + government steel-foundry at Wakamatsu on which more than 3 millions + sterling had been spent in 1909, but it did not yet keep pace with the + country's needs. When this independence has been attained, it is hoped + to effect an economy of about 18% on the outlay for naval + construction, owing to the cheapness of manual labour and the + disappearance both of the manufacturer's profit and of the expenses of + transfer from Europe to Japan. + + There are five admiralties--Yokosuka, Kure, Sasebo, Maizuru and Port + Arthur; and four naval stations--Takeshiki (in Tsushima), Mekong (in + the Pescadores), Ominato and Chinhai (in southern Korea). + + + Personnel. + + The navy is manned partly by conscripts and partly by volunteers. + About 5500 are taken every year, and the ratio is, approximately, 55% + of volunteers and 45% of conscripts. The period of active service is 4 + years and that of service with the reserve 7 years. On the average 200 + cadets are admitted yearly, of whom 50 are engineers, and in 1906 the + personnel of the navy consisted of the following:-- + + Admirals, combative and non-combative 77 + Officers, combative and non-combative, + below the rank of admiral 2,867 + Warrant officers 9,075 + Bluejackets 29,667 + Cadets 721 + ------ + Total 42,407 + + + Naval Education. + + The highest educational institution for the navy is the naval staff + college, in which there are five courses for officers alone. The + gunnery and torpedo schools are attended by officers, and also by + selected warrant-officers and bluejackets, who consent to extend their + service. There is also a mechanical school for junior engineers, + warrant-officers and ordinary artificers. + + At the naval cadet academy--originally situated in Tokyo but now at + Etajima near Kure--aspirants for service as naval officers receive a 3 + years' academical course and 1 year's training at sea; and, finally, + there is a naval engineering college collateral to the naval cadet + academy. + + Since 1882, foreign instruction has been wholly dispensed with in the + Japanese navy; since 1886 she has manufactured her own prismatic + powder; since 1891 she has been able to make quick-firing guns and + Schwartzkopf torpedoes, and in 1892 one of her officers invented a + particularly potent explosive, called (after its inventor) Shimose + powder. + + + The Feudal Period. + +_Finance._--Under the feudal system of the Tokugawa (1603-1871), all +land in Japan was regarded as state property, and parcelled out into 276 +fiefs, great and small, which were assigned to as many feudatories. +These were empowered to raise revenue for the support of their +households, for administrative purposes, and for the maintenance of +troops. The basis of taxation varied greatly in different districts, +but, at the time of the Restoration in 1867, the general principle was +that four-tenths of the gross produce should go to the feudatory, +six-tenths to the farmer. In practice this rule was applied to the rice +crop only, the assessments for other kinds of produce being levied +partly in money and partly in manufactured goods. Forced labour also was +exacted, and artisans and tradesmen were subjected to pecuniary levies. +The yield of rice in 1867 was about 154 million bushels,[21] of which +the market value at prices then ruling was £24,000,000, or 240,000,000 +_yen_.[22] Hence the grain tax represented, at the lowest calculation, +96,000,000 _yen_. When the administration reverted to the emperor in +1867 the central treasury was empty, and the funds hitherto employed for +governmental purposes in the fiefs continued to be devoted to the +support of the feudatories, to the payment of the samurai, and to +defraying the expenses of local administration, the central treasury +receiving only whatever might remain after these various outlays. + +The shogun himself, whose income amounted to about £3,500,000, did not, +on abdicating, hand over to the sovereign either the contents of his +treasury or the lands from which he derived his revenues. He contended +that funds for the government of the nation as a whole should be levied +from the people at large. Not until 1871 did the feudal system cease to +exist. The fiefs being then converted into prefectures, their revenues +became an asset of the central treasury, less 10% allotted for the +support of the former feudatories.[23] + + + Paper Money. + +But during the interval between 1867 and 1871, the men on whom had +devolved the direction of national affairs saw no relief from crippling +impecuniosity except an issue of paper money. This was not a novelty in +Japan. Paper money had been known to the people since the middle of the +17th century, and in the era of which we are now writing no less than +1694 varieties of notes were in circulation. There were gold notes, +silver notes, cash-notes, rice-notes, umbrella-notes, ribbon-notes, +lathe-article-notes, and so on through an interminable list, the +circulation of each kind being limited to the issuing fief. Many of +these notes had almost ceased to have any purchasing power, and nearly +all were regarded by the people as evidences of official greed. The +first duty of a centralized progressive administration should have been +to reform the currency. The political leaders of the time appreciated +that duty, but saw themselves compelled by stress of circumstances to +adopt the very device which in the hands of the feudal chiefs had +produced such deplorable results. The ordinary revenue amounted to only +3,000,000 _yen_, while the extraordinary aggregated 29,000,000, and was +derived wholly from issues of paper money or other equally unsound +sources. + + + Land Tax. + +Even on the abolition of feudalism in 1871 the situation was not +immediately relieved. The land tax, which constituted nine-tenths of the +feudal revenues, had been assessed by varying methods and at various +rates by the different feudatories, and re-assessment of all the land +became a preliminary essential to establishing a uniform system. Such a +task, on the basis of accurate surveys, would have involved years of +work, whereas the financial needs of the state had to be met +immediately. Under the pressure of this imperative necessity a +re-assessment was roughly made in two years, and being continued +thereafter with greater accuracy, was completed in 1881. This survey, +eminently liberal to the agriculturists, assigned a value of +1,200,000,000 _yen_ to the whole of the arable land, and the treasury +fixed the tax at 3% of the assessed value of the land, which was about +one-half of the real market value. Moreover, the government contemplated +a gradual reduction of this already low impost until it should +ultimately fall to 1%. Circumstances prevented the consummation of that +purpose. The rate underwent only one reduction of ½%, and thereafter had +to be raised on account of war expenditures. On the whole, however, no +class benefited more conspicuously from the change of administration +than the peasants, since not only was their burden of taxation light, +but also they were converted from mere tenants into actual proprietors. +In brief, they acquired the fee-simple of their farms in consideration +of paying an annual rent equal to about one sixty-sixth of the market +value of the land. + + + State Revenue. + +In 1873, when these changes were effected, the ordinary revenue of the +state rose from 24,500,000 _yen_ to 70,500,000 _yen_. But seven millions +sterling is a small income for a country confronted by such problems as +Japan had to solve. She had to build railways; to create an army and a +navy; to organize posts, telegraphs, prisons, police and education; to +construct roads, improve harbours, light and buoy the coasts; to create +a mercantile marine; to start under official auspices numerous +industrial enterprises which should serve as object lessons to the +people, as well as to lend to private persons large sums in aid of +similar projects. Thus, living of necessity beyond its income, the +government had recourse to further issues of fiduciary notes, and in +proportion as the volume of the latter exceeded actual currency +requirements their specie value depreciated. + + + Banks. + +This question of paper currency inaugurates the story of banking; a +story on almost every page of which are to be found inscribed the names +of Prince Ito, Marquis Inouye, Marquis Matsukata, Count Okuma and Baron +Shibusawa, the fathers of their country's economic and financial +progress in modern times. The only substitutes for banks in feudal days +were a few private firms--"households" would, perhaps, be a more correct +expression--which received local taxes in kind, converted them into +money, paid the proceeds to the central government or to the +feudatories, gave accommodation to officials, did some exchange +business, and occasionally extended accommodation to private +individuals. They were not banks in the Occidental sense, for they +neither collected funds by receiving deposits nor distributed capital by +making loans. The various fiefs were so isolated that neither social nor +financial intercourse was possible, and moreover the mercantile and +manufacturing classes were regarded with some disdain by the gentry. The +people had never been familiarized with combinations of capital for +productive purposes, and such a thing as a joint-stock company was +unknown. In these circumstances, when the administration of state +affairs fell into the hands of the men who had made the restoration, +they not only lacked the first essential of rule, money, but were also +without means of obtaining any, for they could not collect taxes in the +fiefs, these being still under the control of the feudal barons; and in +the absence of widely organized commerce or finance, no access to funds +presented itself. Doubtless the minds of these men were sharpened by the +necessities confronting them, yet it speaks eloquently for their +discernment that, samurai as they were, without any business training +whatever, one of their first essays was to establish organizations which +should take charge of the national revenue, encourage industry and +promote trade and production by lending money at comparatively low rates +of interest. The tentative character of these attempts is evidenced by +frequent changes. There was first a business bureau, then a trade +bureau, then commercial companies, and then exchange companies, these +last being established in the principal cities and at the open ports, +their personnel consisting of the three great families--Mitsui, Shimada +and Ono--houses of ancient repute, as well as other wealthy merchants in +Kioto, Osaka and elsewhere. These exchange companies were partnerships, +though not strictly of the joint-stock kind. They formed the nucleus of +banks in Japan, and their functions included, for the first time, the +receiving of deposits and the lending of money to merchants and +manufacturers. They had power to issue notes, and, at the same time, the +government issued notes on its own account. Indeed, in this latter fact +is to be found one of the motives for organizing the exchange companies, +the idea being that if the state's notes were lent to the companies, the +people would become familiarized with the use of such currency, and the +companies would find them convenient capital. But this system was +essentially unsound: the notes, alike of the treasury and of the +companies, though nominally convertible, were not secured by any fixed +stock of specie. Four years sufficed to prove the unpracticality of such +an arrangement, and in 1872 the exchange companies were swept away, to +be succeeded in July 1873 by the establishment of national banks on a +system which combined some of the features of English banking with the +general bases of American. Each bank had to pay into the treasury 60% +of its capital in government notes. It was credited in return with +interest-bearing bonds, which bonds were to be left in the treasury as +security for the issue of bank-notes to an equal amount, the banks being +required to keep in gold the remaining 40% of their capital as a fund +for converting the notes, which conversion must always be effected on +application. The elaborators of this programme were Ito, Inouye, Okuma +and Shibusawa. They added a provision designed to prevent the +establishment of too small banks, namely, that the capital of each bank +must bear a fixed ratio to the population of its place of business. +Evidently the main object of the treasury was gradually to replace its +own fiat paper with convertible bank-notes. But experience quickly +proved that the scheme was unworkable. The treasury notes had been +issued in such large volume that sharp depreciation had ensued; gold +could not be procured except at a heavy cost, and the balance of foreign +trade being against Japan, some 300,000,000 _yen_ in specie flowed out +of the country between 1872 and 1874. + + It should be noted that at this time foreign trade was still invested + with a perilous character in Japanese eyes. In early days, while the + Dutch had free access to her ports, they sold her so much and bought + so little in return that an immense quantity of the precious metals + flowed out of her coffers. Again, when over-sea trade was renewed in + modern times, Japan's exceptional financial condition presented to + foreigners an opportunity of which they did not fail to take full + advantage. For, during her long centuries of seclusion, gold had come + to hold to silver in her coinage a ratio of 1 to 8, so that gold cost, + in terms of silver, only one-half of what it cost in the West. On the + other hand, the treaty gave foreign traders the right to exchange + their own silver coins against Japanese, weight for weight, and thus + it fell out that the foreigner, going to Japan with a supply of + Mexican dollars, could buy with them twice as much gold as they had + cost in Mexico. Japan lost very heavily by this system, and its + effects accentuated the dread with which her medieval experience had + invested foreign commerce. Thus, when the balance of trade swayed + heavily in the wrong direction between 1872 and 1874, the fact created + undue consternation, and moreover there can be no doubt that the + drafters of the bank regulations had over-estimated the quantity of + available gold in the country. + + All these things made it impossible to keep the bank-notes long in + circulation. They were speedily returned for conversion; no deposits + came to the aid of the banks, nor did the public make any use of them. + Disaster became inevitable. The two great firms of Ono and Shimada, + which had stood high in the nation's estimation alike in feudal and in + imperial days, closed their doors in 1874; a panic ensued, and the + circulation of money ceased almost entirely. + + + Change of the Banking System. + + Evidently the banking system must be changed. The government bowed to + necessity. They issued a revised code of banking regulations which + substituted treasury notes in the place of specie. Each bank was + thenceforth required to invest 80% of its capital in 6% state bonds, + and these being lodged with the treasury, the bank became competent to + issue an equal quantity of its own notes, forming with the remainder + of its capital a reserve of treasury notes for purposes of redemption. + This was a complete subversion of the government's original scheme. + But no alternative offered. Besides, the situation presented a new + feature. The hereditary pensions of the feudatories had been commuted + with bonds aggregating 174,000,000 _yen_. Were this large volume of + bonds issued at once, their heavy depreciation would be likely to + follow, and moreover their holders, unaccustomed to dealing with + financial problems, might dispose of the bonds and invest the proceeds + in hazardous enterprises. To devise some opportunity for the safe and + profitable employment of these bonds seemed, therefore, a pressing + necessity, and the newly organized national banks offered such an + opportunity. For bond-holders, combining to form a bank, continued to + draw from the treasury 6% on their bonds, while they acquired power to + issue a corresponding amount of notes which could be lent at + profitable rates. The programme worked well. Whereas, up to 1876, only + five banks were established under the original regulations, the number + under the new rule was 151 in 1879, their aggregate capital having + grown in the same interval from 2,000,000 _yen_ to 40,000,000 _yen_, + and their note issues from less than 1,000,000 to over 34,000,000. + Here, then, was a rapidly growing system resting wholly on state + credit. Something like a mania for bank-organizing declared itself, + and in 1878 the government deemed it necessary to legislate against + the establishment of any more national banks, and to limit to + 34,000,000 _yen_ the aggregate note issues of those already in + existence. + + It is possible that the conditions which prevailed immediately after + the establishment of the national banks might have developed some + permanency had not the Satsuma rebellion broken out in 1877. Increased + taxation to meet military outlay being impossible in such + circumstances, nothing offered except recourse to further note + issues. The result was that by 1881, fourteen years after the + Restoration, notes whose face value aggregated 164,000,000 _yen_ had + been put into circulation; the treasury possessed specie amounting to + only 8,000,000 _yen_, and 18 paper _yen_ could be purchased with 10 + silver ones. + + + Resumption of Specie Payments. + + Up to 1881 fitful efforts had been made to strengthen the specie value + of fiat paper by throwing quantities of gold and silver upon the + market from time to time, and 23,000,000 _yen_ had been devoted to the + promotion of industries whose products, it was hoped, would go to + swell the list of exports, and thus draw specie to the country. But + these devices were now finally abandoned, and the government applied + itself steadfastly to reducing the volume of the fiduciary currency on + the one hand, and accumulating a specie reserve on the other. The + steps of the programme were simple. By cutting down administrative + expenditure; by transferring certain charges from the treasury to the + local communes; by suspending all grants in aid of provincial public + works and private enterprises, and by a moderate increase of the tax + on alcohol, an annual surplus of revenue, totalling 7,500,000 _yen_, + was secured. This was applied to reducing the volume of the notes in + circulation. At the same time, it was resolved that all officially + conducted industrial and agricultural works should be sold--since + their purpose of instruction and example seemed now to have been + sufficiently achieved--and the proceeds, together with various + securities (aggregating 26,000,000 _yen_ in face value) held by the + treasury, were applied to the purchase of specie. Had the government + entered the market openly as a seller of its own fiduciary notes, its + credit must have suffered. There were also ample reasons to doubt + whether any available stores of precious metal remained in the + country. In obedience to elementary economical laws, the cheap money + had steadily driven out the dear, and although the government mint at + Osaka, founded in 1871, had struck gold and silver coins worth + 80,000,000 _yen_ between that date and 1881, the customs returns + showed that a great part of this metallic currency had flowed out of + the country. In these circumstances Japanese financiers decided that + only one course remained: the treasury must play the part of national + banker. Produce and manufactures destined for export must be purchased + by the state with fiduciary notes, and the metallic proceeds of their + sales abroad must be collected and stored in the treasury. This + programme required the establishment of consulates in the chief marts + of the Occident, and the organization of a great central bank--the + present Bank of Japan--as well as of a secondary bank--the present + Specie Bank of Yokohama--the former to conduct transactions with + native producers and manufacturers, the latter to finance the business + of exportation. The outcome of these various arrangements was that, by + the middle of 1885, the volume of fiduciary notes had been reduced to + 119,000,000 _yen_, their depreciation had fallen to 3%, and the + metallic reserve of the treasury had increased to 45,000,000 _yen_. + The resumption of specie payments was then announced, and became, in + the autumn of that year, an accomplished fact. From the time when this + programme began to be effective, Japan entered a period of favourable + balance of trade. According to accepted economic theories, the + influence of an appreciating currency should be to encourage imports; + but the converse was seen in Japan's case, for from 1882 her exports + annually exceeded her imports, the maximum excess being reached in + 1886, the very year after the resumption of specie payments. + + The above facts deserve to figure largely in a retrospect of Japanese + finance, not merely because they set forth a fine economic feat, + indicating clear insight, good organizing capacity, and courageous + energy, but also because volumes of adverse foreign criticism were + written in the margin of the story during the course of the incidents + it embodies. Now Japan was charged with robbing her own people because + she bought their goods with paper money and sold them for specie; + again, she was accused of an official conspiracy to ruin the foreign + local banks because she purchased exporters' bills on Europe and + America at rates that defied ordinary competition; and while some + declared that she was plainly without any understanding of her own + doings, others predicted that her heroic method of dealing with the + problem would paralyze industry, interrupt trade and produce + widespread suffering. Undoubtedly, to carry the currency of a nation + from a discount of 70 or 80% to par in the course of four years, + reducing its volume at the same time from 160 to 119 million _yen_, + was a financial enterprise violent and daring almost to rashness. The + gentler expedient of a foreign loan would have commended itself to the + majority of economists. But it may be here stated, once for all, that + until her final adoption of a gold standard in 1897, the foreign money + market was practically closed to Japan. Had she borrowed abroad it + must have been on a sterling basis. Receiving a fixed sum in silver, + she would have had to discharge her debt in rapidly appreciating gold. + Twice, indeed, she had recourse to London for small sums, but when she + came to cast up her accounts the cost of the accommodation stood out + in deterrent proportions. A 9% loan, placed in England in 1868 and + paid off in 1889, produced 3,750,000 _yen_, and cost altogether + 11,750,000 _yen_ in round figures; and a 7% loan, made in 1872 and + paid off in 1897, produced 10,750,000 _yen_, and cost 36,000,000 + _yen_. These considerations were supplemented by a strong aversion + from incurring pecuniary obligations to Western states before the + latter had consented to restore Japan's judicial and tariff autonomy. + The example of Egypt showed what kind of fate might overtake a + semi-independent state falling into the clutches of foreign + bond-holders. Japan did not wish to fetter herself with foreign debts + while struggling to emerge from the rank of Oriental powers. + + + Closing of the National Banks. + + After the revision of the national bank regulations, semi-official + banking enterprise won such favour in public eyes that the government + found it necessary to impose limits. This conservative policy proved + an incentive to private banks and banking companies, so that, by the + year 1883, no less than 1093 banking institutions were in existence + throughout Japan with an aggregate capital of 900,000,000 yen. But + these were entirely lacking in arrangements for combination or for + equalizing rates of interest, and to correct such defects, no less + than ultimately to constitute the sole note-issuing institution, a + central bank (the Bank of Japan) was organized on the model of the + Bank of Belgium, with due regard to corresponding institutions in + other Western countries and to the conditions existing in Japan. + Established in 1882 with a capital of 4,000,000 yen, this bank has now + a capital of 30 millions, a security reserve of 206 millions, a + note-issue of 266 millions, a specie reserve of 160 millions, and + loans of 525 millions. + + The banking machinery of the country being now complete, in a general + sense, steps were taken in 1883 for converting the national banks into + ordinary joint-stock concerns and for the redemption of all their + note-issues. Each national bank was required to deposit with the + treasury the government paper kept in its strong room as security for + its own notes, and further to take from its annual profits and hand to + the treasury a sum equal to 2½% of its notes in circulation. With + these funds the central bank was to purchase state bonds, devoting the + interest to redeeming the notes of the national banks. Formed with the + object of disturbing the money market as little as possible, this + programme encountered two obstacles. The first was that, in view of + the Bank of Japan's purchases, the market price of state bonds rose + rapidly, so that, whereas official financiers had not expected them to + reach par before 1897, they were quoted at a considerable premium in + 1886. The second was that the treasury having in 1886 initiated the + policy of converting its 6% bonds into 5% consols, the former no + longer produced interest at the rate estimated for the purposes of the + banking scheme. The national banks thus found themselves in an + embarrassing situation and began to clamour for a revision of the + programme. But the government, seeing compensations for them in other + directions, adhered firmly to its scheme. Few problems have caused + greater controversy in modern Japan than this question of the ultimate + fate of the national banks. Not until 1896 could the diet be induced + to pass a bill providing for their dissolution at the close of their + charter terms, or their conversion into ordinary joint-stock concerns + without any note-issuing power, and not until 1899 did their notes + cease to be legal tender. Out of a total of 153 of these banks, 132 + continued business as private institutions, and the rest were absorbed + or dissolved. Already (1890 and 1893) minute regulations had been + enacted bringing all the banks and banking institutions--except the + special banks to be presently described--within one system of + semi-annual balance-sheets and official auditing, while in the case of + savings banks the directors' responsibility was declared unlimited and + these banks were required to lodge security with the treasury for the + protection of their depositors. + + + Special Banks. + + Just as the ordinary banks were all centred on the Bank of Japan[24] + and more or less connected with it, so in 1895, a group of special + institutions, called agricultural and commercial banks, were organized + and centred on a hypothec bank, the object of this system being to + supply cheap capital to farmers and manufacturers on the security of + real estate. The hypothec bank had its head office in Tokyo and was + authorized to obtain funds by issuing premium-bearing bonds, while an + agricultural and industrial bank was established in each prefecture + and received assistance from the hypothec bank. Two years later + (1900), an industrial bank--sometimes spoken of as the _crédit + mobilier_ of Japan--was brought into existence under official + auspices, its purpose being to lend money against bonds, debentures + and shares as well as to public corporations. These various + institutions, together with clearing houses, bankers' associations, + the Hokkaido colonial bank, the bank of Formosa, savings banks + (including a post-office savings bank), and a mint complete the + financial machinery of modern Japan. + + + Review of Banking Development. + + Reviewing this chapter of Japan's material development, we find that + whereas, at the beginning of the Meiji era (1867), the nation did not + possess so much as one banking institution worthy of the name, forty + years later it had 2211 banks, with a paid-up capital of £40,000,000, + reserves of £12,000,000, and deposits of £147,000,000; and whereas + there was not one savings bank in 1867, there were 487 in 1906 with + deposits of over £50,000,000. The average yearly dividends of these + banks in the ten years ending 1906 varied between 9.1 and 9.9%. + + + Insurance. + + Necessarily the movement of industrial expansion was accompanied by a + development of insurance business. The beginnings of this kind of + enterprise did not become visible, however, until 1881, and even at + that comparatively recent date no Japanese laws had yet been enacted + for the control of such operations. The commercial code, published in + March 1890, was the earliest legislation which met the need, and from + that time the number of insurance companies and the volume of their + transactions grew rapidly. In 1897, there were 35 companies with a + total paid-up capital of 7,000,000 _yen_ and policies aggregating + 971,000,000 _yen_, and in 1906 the corresponding figures were 65 + companies, 22,000,000 _yen_ paid up and policies of 4,149,000,000 + _yen_. The premium reserves grew in the same period from 7,000,000 to + 108,000,000. The net profits of these companies in 1906 were (in round + numbers) 10,000,000 _yen_. + + + Clearing Houses. + + The origin of clearing houses preceded that of insurance companies in + Japan by only two years (1879). Osaka set the example, which was + quickly followed by Tokyo, Kobe, Yokohama, Kioto and Nagoya. In 1898 + the bills handled at these institutions amounted to 1,186,000,000 + _yen_, and in 1907 to 7,484,000,000 _yen_. Japanese clearing houses + are modelled after those of London and New York. + + + Bourses. + + Exchanges existed in Japan as far back as the close of the 17th + century. At that time the income of the feudal chiefs consisted almost + entirely of rice, and as this was sold to brokers, the latter found it + convenient to meet at fixed times and places for conducting their + business. Originally their transactions were all for cash, but + afterwards they devised time bargains which ultimately developed into + a definite form of exchange. The reform of abuses incidental to this + system attracted the early attention of the Meiji government, and in + 1893 a law was promulgated for the control of exchanges, which then + numbered 146. Under this law the minimum share capital of a bourse + constituted as a joint-stock company was fixed at 100,000 _yen_, and + the whole of its property became liable for failure on the part of its + brokers to implement their contracts. There were 51 bourses in 1908. + + + The Government and Economic Development. + + Not less remarkable than this economic development was the large part + acted in it by officialdom. There were two reasons for this. One was + that a majority of the men gifted with originality and foresight were + drawn into the ranks of the administration by the great current of the + revolution; the other, that the feudal system had tended to check + rather than to encourage material development, since the limits of + each fief were also the limits of economical and industrial + enterprise. Ideas for combination and co-operation had been confined + to a few families, and there was nothing to suggest the organization + of companies nor any law to protect them if organized. Thus the + opening of the Meiji era found the Japanese nation wholly unqualified + for the commercial and manufacturing competition in which it was + thenceforth required to engage, and therefore upon those who had + brought the country out of its isolation there devolved the + responsibility of speedily preparing their fellow countrymen for the + new situation. To these leaders banking facilities seemed to be the + first need, and steps were accordingly taken in the manner already + described. But how to educate men of affairs at a moment's notice? How + to replace by a spirit of intelligent progress the ignorance and + conservatism of the hitherto despised traders and artisans? When the + first bank was organized, its two founders--men who had been urged, + nay almost compelled, by officialdom to make the essay--were obliged + to raise four-fifths of the capital themselves, the general public not + being willing to subscribe more than one-fifth--a petty sum of 500,000 + yen--and when its staff commenced their duties, they had not the most + shadowy conception of what to do. That was a faithful reflection of + the condition of the business world at large. If the initiative of the + people themselves had been awaited, Japan's career must have been slow + indeed. + + Only one course offered, namely, that the government itself should + organize a number of productive enterprises on modern lines, so that + they might serve as schools and also as models. Such, as already noted + under _Industries_, was the programme adopted. It provoked much + hostile criticism from foreign onlookers, who had learned to decry all + official incursions into trade and industry, but had not properly + appreciated the special conditions existing in Japan. The end + justified the means. At the outset of its administration we find the + Meiji government not only forming plans for the circulation of money, + building railways and organizing posts and telegraphs, but also + establishing dockyards, spinning mills, printing-houses, silk-reeling + filatures, paper-making factories and so forth, thus by example + encouraging these kinds of enterprise and by legislation providing for + their safe prosecution. Yet progress was slow. One by one and at long + intervals joint-stock companies came into existence, nor was it until + the resumption of specie payments in 1886 that a really effective + spirit of enterprise manifested itself among the people. Railways, + harbours, mines, spinning, weaving, paper-making, oil-refining, + brick-making, leather-tanning, glass-making and other industries + attracted eager attention, and whereas the capital subscribed for such + works aggregated only 50,000,000 _yen_ in 1886, it exceeded + 1,000,000,000 _yen_ in 1906. + + + Adoption of the Gold Standard. + + When specie payments were resumed in 1885, the notes issued by the + Bank of Japan were convertible into silver on demand, the silver + standard being thus definitely adopted, a complete reversal of the + system inaugurated at the establishment of the national banks on + Prince Ito's return from the United States. Japanese financiers + believed from the outset in gold monometallism. But, in the first + place, the country's stock of gold was soon driven out by her + depreciated fiat currency; and, in the second, not only were all other + Oriental nations silver-using, but also the Mexican silver dollar had + long been the unit of account in Far-Eastern trade. Thus Japan + ultimately drifted into silver monometallism, the silver _yen_ + becoming her unit of currency. So soon, however, as the indemnity that + she received from China after the war of 1894-95 had placed her in + possession of a stock of gold, she determined to revert to the gold + standard. Mechanically speaking, the operation was very easy. Gold + having appreciated so that its value in terms of silver had exactly + doubled during the first 30 years of the Meiji era, nothing was + necessary except to double the denominations of the gold coins in + terms of _yen_, leaving the silver subsidiary coins unchanged. Thus + the old 5-_yen_ gold piece, weighing 2.22221 _momme_ of 900 fineness, + became a 10-_yen_ piece in the new currency, and a new 5-_yen_ piece + of half the weight was coined. No change whatever was required in the + reckonings of the people. The _yen_ continued to be their coin of + account, with a fixed sterling value of a small fraction over two + shillings, and the denominations of the gold coins were doubled. Gold, + however, is little seen in Japan; the whole duty of currency is done + by notes. + + It is not to be supposed that all this economic and financial + development was unchequered by periods of depression and severe panic. + There were in fact six such seasons: in 1874, 1881, 1889, 1897, 1900 + and 1907. But no year throughout the whole period failed to witness an + increase in the number of Japan's industrial and commercial companies, + and in the amount of capital thus invested. + + + State Revenue. + + To obtain a comprehensive idea of Japan's state finance, the simplest + method is to set down the annual revenue at quinquennial periods, + commencing with the year 1878-1879, because it was not until 1876 that + the system of duly compiled and published budgets came into existence. + + REVENUE (omitting fractions) + + +--------+-----------+-------------+-------------+ + | | Ordinary |Extraordinary|Total Revenue| + | Year.* | Revenue | Revenue | (millions | + | | (millions | (millions | of _yen_). | + | | of _yen_).| of _yen_). | | + +--------+-----------+-------------+-------------+ + | 1878-9 | 53 | 9 | 62 | + | 1883-4 | 76 | 7 | 83 | + | 1888-9 | 74 | 18 | 92 | + | 1893-4 | 86 | 28 | 114 | + | 1898-9 | 133 | 87 | 220 | + | 1903-4 | 224 | 36 | 260 | + | 1908-9 | 476 | 144 | 620 | + +--------+-----------+-------------+-------------+ + + * The Japanese fiscal year is from April 1 to March 31. + + The most striking feature of the above table is the rapid growth of + revenue during the last three periods. So signal was the growth that + the revenue may be said to have sextupled in the 15 years ended 1909. + This was the result of the two great wars in which Japan was involved, + that with China in 1894-95 and that with Russia in 1904-5. The details + will be presently shown. + + Turning now to the expenditure and pursuing the same plan, we have the + following figures:-- + + EXPENDITURE (omitting fractions) + + +--------+-------------+-------------+-------------+ + | | Ordinary |Extraordinary| Total | + | Year. | Expenditures| Expenditures| Expenditures| + | | (millions | (millions | (millions | + | | of _yen_). | of _yen_). | of _yen_). | + +--------+-------------+-------------+-------------+ + | 1878-9 | 56 | 5 | 61 | + | 1883-4 | 68 | 15 | 83 | + | 1888-9 | 66 | 15 | 81 | + | 1893-4 | 64 | 20 | 84 | + | 1898-9 | 119 | 101 | 220 | + | 1903-4 | 170 | 80 | 250 | + | 1908-9 | 427 | 193 | 620 | + +--------+-------------+-------------+-------------+ + + It may be here stated that, with three exceptions, the working of the + budget showed a surplus in every one of the 41 years between 1867 and + 1908. + + The sources from which revenue is obtained are as follow:-- + + ORDINARY REVENUE + + +--------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ + | | 1894-5. | 1898-9. | 1903-4. | 1908-9. | + | +---------+---------+---------+---------+ + | |millions |millions |millions |millions | + | |of _yen_.|of _yen_.|of _yen_.|of _yen_.| + +--------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ + | Taxes | 70.50 | 96.20 | 146.10 | 299.61 | + | Receipts from | | | | | + | stamps and Public| | | | | + | Undertakings | 14.75 | 33.00 | 96.87 | 164.66 | + | Various Receipts | 4.58 | 3.67 | 8.15 | 11.48 | + +--------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ + + It appears from the above that during 15 years the weight of taxation + increased fourfold. But a correction has to be applied, first, on + account of the tax on alcoholic liquors and, secondly, on account of + customs dues, neither of which can properly be called general imposts. + The former grew from 16 millions in 1894-1895 to 72 millions in + 1908-1909, and the latter from 5¼ millions to 41½ millions. If these + increases be deducted, it is found that taxes, properly so called, + grew from 70.5 millions in 1894-1895 to 207.86 millions in 1908-1909, + an increase of somewhat less than three-fold. Otherwise stated, the + burden per unit of population in 1894-1895 was 3s. 6d., whereas in + 1908-1909 it was 8s. 4d. To understand the principle of Japanese + taxation and the manner in which the above development took place, it + is necessary to glance briefly at the chief taxes separately. + + + Land Tax. + + The land tax is the principal source of revenue. It was originally + fixed at 3% of the assessed value of the land, but in 1877 this ratio + was reduced to 2½%, on which basis the tax yielded from 37 to 38 + million _yen_ annually. After the war with China (1894-1895) the + government proposed to increase this impost in order to obtain funds + for an extensive programme of useful public works and expanded + armaments (known subsequently as the "first _post bellum_ programme"). + By that time the market value of agricultural land had largely + appreciated owing to improved communications, and urban land commanded + greatly enhanced prices. But the lower house of the diet, considering + itself guardian of the farmers' interests, refused to endorse any + increase of the tax. Not until 1889 could this resistance be overcome, + and then only on condition that the change should not be operative for + more than 5 years. The amended rates were 3.3% on rural lands and 5% + on urban building sites. Thus altered, the tax produced 46,000,000 + _yen_, but at the end of the five-year period it would have reverted + to its old figure, had not war with Russia broken out. An increase was + then made so that the impost varied from 3% to 17½% according to the + class of land, and under this new system the tax yielded 85 millions. + Thus the exigencies of two wars had augmented it from 38 millions in + 1889 to 85 millions in 1907. + + + Income Tax. + + The income tax was introduced in 1887. It was on a graduated scale, + varying from 1% on incomes of not less than 300 _yen_, to 3% on + incomes of 30,000 _yen_ and upwards. At these rates the tax yielded an + insignificant revenue of about 2,000,000 _yen_. In 1899, a revision + was effected for the purposes of the first _post bellum_ programme. + This revision increased the number of classes from five to ten, + incomes of 300 _yen_ standing at the bottom and incomes of 100,000 + _yen_ or upwards at the top, the minimum and maximum rates being 1% + and 5½%. The tax now produced approximately 8,000,000 _yen_. Finally + in 1904, when war broke out with Russia, these rates were again + revised, the minimum now becoming 2%, and the maximum 8.2%. Thus + revised, the tax yields a revenue of 27,000,000 _yen_. + + + Business Tax. + + The business tax was instituted in 1896, after the war with China, and + the rates have remained unchanged. For the purposes of the tax all + kinds of business are divided into nine classes, and the tax is levied + on the amounts of sales (wholesale and retail), on rental value of + buildings, on number of employees and on amount of capital. The yield + from the tax grows steadily. It was only 4,500,000 _yen_ in 1897, but + it figured at 22,000,000 _yen_ in the budget for 1908-1909. + + + Tax on Alcoholic Liquors. + + The above three imposts constitute the only direct taxes in Japan. + Among indirect taxes the most important is that upon alcoholic + liquors. It was inaugurated in 1871; doubled, roughly speaking, in + 1878; still further increased thenceforth at intervals of about 3 + years, until it is now approximately twenty times as heavy as it was + originally. The liquor taxed is mainly sake; the rate is about 50 + _sen_ (one shilling) per gallon, and the annual yield is 72,000,000 + _yen_. + + + Customs Duties. + + In 1859, when Japan re-opened her ports to foreign commerce, the + customs dues were fixed on a basis of 10% _ad valorem_, but this was + almost immediately changed to a nominal 5% and a real 3%. The customs + then yielded a very petty return--not more than three or four million + _yen_--and the Japanese government had no discretionary power to alter + the rates. Strenuous efforts to change this system were at length + successful, and, in 1899, the tariff was divided into two sections, + conventional and statutory; the rates in the former being governed by + a treaty valid for 12 years; those in the latter being fixed at + Japan's will. Things remained thus until the war with Russia + compelled a revision of the statutory tariff. Under this system the + ratio of the duties to the value of the dutiable goods was about + 15.65%. The customs yield a revenue of about 42,000,000 _yen_. + + + Other Taxes. + + In addition to the above there are eleven taxes, some in existence + before the war of 1904-5, and some created for the purpose of carrying + on the war or to meet the expenses of a _post bellum_ programme. + + Taxes in existence before 1904-1905:-- + + Yield + Name. (millions of _yen_). + + Tax on soy 4 + Tax on sugar 16¼ + Mining tax 2 + Tax on bourses 2 + Tax on issue of bank-notes 1 + Tonnage dues ½ + + Taxes created on account of the war (1904-5) or in its immediate + sequel:-- + + Yield + Name. (millions of _yen_). + + Consumption tax on textile fabrics 19½ + Tax on dealers in patent medicines ¼ + Tax on communications 2(1/3) + Consumption tax on kerosene 1½ + Succession tax 1½ + + Also, as shown above, the land tax was increased by 39 millions; the + income tax by 19 millions; the business tax by 15 millions; and the + tax on alcoholic liquors by 15 millions. On the whole, if taxes of + general incidence and those of special incidence be lumped together, + it appears that the burden swelled from 160,000,000 _yen_ before the + war to 320,000,000 after it. + + + State Monopolies and Manufactures. + + The government of Japan carries on many manufacturing undertakings for + purposes of military and naval equipment, for ship-building, for the + construction of railway rolling stock, for the manufacture of + telegraph and light-house materials, for iron-founding and + steel-making, for printing, for paper-making and so forth. There are + 48 of these institutions, giving employment to 108,000 male operatives + and 23,000 female, together with 63,000 labourers. But the financial + results do not appear independently in the general budget. Three other + government undertakings, however, constitute important budgetary + items: they are, the profits derived from the postal and telegraph + services, 39,000,000 _yen_; secondly, from forests, 13,000,000 _yen_; + and thirdly, from railways, 37,000,000 _yen_. The government further + exercises a monopoly of three important staples, tobacco, salt and + camphor. In each case the crude article is produced by private + individuals from whom it is taken over at a fair price by the + government, and, having been manufactured (if necessary), it is resold + by government agents at fixed prices. The tobacco monopoly yields a + profit of some 33,000,000 _yen_; the salt monopoly a profit of + 12,000,000 _yen_, and the camphor monopoly a profit of 1,000,000 + _yen_. Thus the ordinary revenue of the state consisted in 1908-1909 + of:-- + + _Yen._ + + Proceeds of taxes 320,000,000 + Proceeds of state enterprises (posts and + telegraphs, forests and railways) 89,000,000 + Proceeds of monopolies 56,000,000 + Sundries 11,000,000 + ----------- + Total 476,000,000 + + The ordinary expenditures of the nine departments of state + aggregated--in 1908-1909--427,000,000 _yen_, so that there was a + surplus revenue of 49,000,000 _yen_. + + + Extraordinary Expenditures. + + Japanese budgets have long included an extraordinary section, so + called because it embodies outlays of a special and terminable + character as distinguished from ordinary and perpetually recurring + expenditures. The items in this extraordinary section possessed deep + interest in the years 1896 and 1907, because they disclosed the + special programmes mapped out by Japanese financiers and statesmen + after the wars with China and Russia. Both programmes had the same + bases--expansion of armaments and development of the country's + material resources. After her war with China, Japan received a plain + intimation that she must either fight again after a few years or + resign herself to a career of insignificance on the confines of the + Far East. No other interpretation could be assigned to the action of + Russia, Germany and France in requiring her to retrocede the territory + which she had acquired by right of conquest. Japan therefore made + provision for the doubling of her army and her navy, for the growth of + a mercantile marine qualified to supply a sufficiency of troop-ships, + and for the development of resources which should lighten the burden + of these outlays. + + The war with Russia ensued nine years after these preparations had + begun, and Japan emerged victorious. It then seemed to the onlooking + nations that she would rest from her warlike efforts. On the contrary, + just as she had behaved after her war with China, so she now behaved + after her war with Russia--made arrangements to double her army and + navy and to develop her material resources. The government drafted for + the year 1907-1908 a budget with three salient features. First, + instead of proceeding to deal in a leisurely manner with the greatly + increased national debt, Japan's financiers made dispositions to pay + it off completely in the space of 30 years. Secondly, a total outlay + of 422,000,000 _yen_ was set down for improving and expanding the army + and the navy. Thirdly, expenditures aggregating 304,000,000 _yen_ were + estimated for productive purposes. All these outlays, included in the + extraordinary section of the budget, were spread over a series of + years commencing in 1907 and ending in 1913, so that the disbursements + would reach their maximum in the fiscal year 1908-1909 and would + thenceforth decline with growing rapidity. To finance this programme + three constant sources of annual revenue were provided, namely, + increased taxation, yielding some 30 millions yearly; domestic loans, + varying from 30 to 40 millions each year; and surpluses of ordinary + revenue amounting to from 45 to 75 millions. There were also some + exceptional and temporary assets: such as 100,000,000 _yen_ remaining + over from the war fund; 50 millions paid by Russia for the maintenance + of her officers and soldiers during their imprisonment in Japan; + occasional sales of state properties and so forth. But the backbone of + the scheme was the continuing revenue detailed above. + + The house of representatives unanimously approved this programme. By + the bulk of the nation, however, it was regarded with something like + consternation, and a very short time sufficed to demonstrate its + impracticability. From the beginning of 1907 a cloud of commercial and + industrial depression settled down upon Japan, partly because of so + colossal a programme of taxes and expenditures, and partly owing to + excessive speculation during the year 1906 and to unfavourable + financial conditions abroad. To float domestic loans became a hopeless + task, and thus one of the three sources of extraordinary revenue + ceased to be available. There remained no alternative but to modify + the programme, and this was accomplished by extending the original + period of years so as correspondingly to reduce the annual outlays. + The nation, however, as represented by its leading men of affairs, + clamoured for still more drastic measures, and it became evident that + the government must study retrenchment, not expansion, eschewing above + all things any increase of the country's indebtedness. A change of + ministry took place, and the new cabinet drafted a programme on five + bases: first, that all expenditures should be brought within the + margin of actual visible revenue, loans being wholly abstained from; + secondly, that the estimates should not include any anticipated + surpluses of yearly revenue; thirdly, that appropriations of at least + 50,000,000 _yen_ should be annually set aside to form a sinking fund, + the whole of the foreign debt being thus extinguished in 27 years; + fourthly, that the state railways should be placed in a separate + account, all their profits being devoted to extensions and repairs; + and fifthly, that the period for completing the _post bellum_ + programme should be extended from 6 years to 11. This scheme had the + effect of restoring confidence in the soundness of the national + finances. + + _National Debt._--When the fiefs were surrendered to the sovereign at + the beginning of the Meiji era, it was decided to provide for the + feudal nobles and the samurai by the payment of lump sums in + commutation, or by handing to them public bonds, the interest on which + should constitute a source of income. The result of this transaction + was that bonds having a total face value of 191,500,000 _yen_ were + issued, and ready-money payments were made aggregating 21,250,000 + _yen_.[25] This was the foundation of Japan's national debt. Indeed, + these public bonds may be said to have represented the bulk of the + state's liabilities during the first 25 years of the Meiji period. The + government had also to take over the debts of the fiefs, amounting to + 41,000,000 _yen_, of which 21,500,000 _yen_ were paid with + interest-bearing bonds, the remainder with ready money. If to the + above figures be added two foreign loans aggregating 16,500,000 _yen_ + (completely repaid by the year 1897); a loan of 15,000,000 _yen_ + incurred on account of the Satsuma revolt of 1877; loans of 33,000,000 + _yen_ for public works, 13,000,000 _yen_ for naval construction, and + 14,500,000 _yen_[26] in connexion with the fiat currency, we have a + total of 305,000,000 _yen_, being the whole national debt of Japan + during the first 28 years of her new era under Imperial + administration. + + The second epoch dates from the war with China in 1894-95. The direct + expenditures on account of the war aggregated 200,000,000 _yen_, of + which 135,000,000 _yen_ were added to the national debt, the remainder + being defrayed with accumulations of surplus revenue, with a part of + the indemnity received from China, and with voluntary contributions + from patriotic subjects. As the immediate sequel of the war, the + government elaborated a large programme of armaments and public works. + The expenditure for these unproductive purposes, as well as for coast + fortifications, dockyards, and so on, came to 314,000,000 _yen_, and + the total of the productive expenditures included in the programme was + 190,000,000 _yen_--namely, 120 millions for railways, telegraphs and + telephones; 20 millions for riparian improvements; 20 millions in aid + of industrial and agricultural banks and so forth--the whole programme + thus involving an outlay of 504,000,000 _yen_. To meet this large + figure, the Chinese indemnity, surpluses of annual revenue and other + assets, furnished 300 millions; and it was decided that the remaining + 204 millions should be obtained by domestic loans, the programme to be + carried completely into operation--with trifling exceptions--by the + year 1905. In practice, however, it was found impossible to obtain + money at home without paying a high rate of interest. The government, + therefore, had recourse to the London market in 1899, raising a loan + of £10,000,000 at 4%, and selling the £100 bonds at 90. In 1902, it + was not expected that Japan would need any further immediate recourse + to foreign borrowing. According to her financiers' forecast at that + time, her national indebtedness would reach its maximum, namely, + 575,000,000 _yen_, in the year 1903, and would thenceforward diminish + steadily. All Japan's domestic loans were by that time placed on a + uniform basis. They carried 5% interest, ran for a period of 5 years + without redemption, and were then to be redeemed within 50 years at + latest. The treasury had power to expedite the operation of redemption + according to financial convenience, but the sum expended on + amortization each year must receive the previous consent of the diet. + Within the limit of that sum redemption was effected either by + purchasing the stock of the loans in the open market or by drawing + lots to determine the bonds to be paid off. During the first two + periods (1867 to 1897) of the Meiji era, owing to the processes of + conversion, consolidation, &c., and to the various requirements of the + state's progress, twenty-two different kinds of national bonds were + issued; they aggregated 673,215,500 _yen_; 269,042,198 _yen_ of that + total had been paid off at the close of 1897, and the remainder was to + be redeemed by 1946, according to these programmes. + + But at this point the empire became involved in war with Russia, and + the enormous resulting outlays caused a signal change in the financial + situation. Before peace was restored in the autumn of 1905, Japan had + been obliged to borrow 405,000,000 _yen_ at home and 1,054,000,000 + abroad, so that she found herself in 1908 with a total debt of + 2,276,000,000 _yen_, of which aggregate her domestic indebtedness + stood for 1,110,000,000 and her foreign borrowings amounted to + 1,166,000,000. This meant that her debt had grown from 561,000,000 + _yen_ in 1904 to 2,276,000,000 _yen_[27] in 1908; or from 11.3 _yen_ + to 43.8 _yen_ per head of the population. Further, out of the grand + total, the sum actually spent on account of war and armaments + represented 1,357,000,000 _yen_. The debt carried interest varying + from 4 to 5%. + + It will be observed that the country's indebtedness grew by + 1,700,000,000 _yen_, in round numbers, owing to the war with Russia. + This added obligation the government resolved to discharge within the + space of 30 years, for which purpose the diet was asked to approve the + establishment of a national debt consolidation fund, which should be + kept distinct from the general accounts of revenue and expenditure, + and specially applied to payment of interest and redemption of + principal. The amount of this fund was never to fall below 110,000,000 + _yen_ annually. Immediately after the war, the diet approved a cabinet + proposal for the nationalization of 17 private railways, at a cost of + 500,000,000 _yen_, and this brought the state's debts to 2,776,000,000 + _yen_ in all. The people becoming impatient of this large burden, a + scheme was finally adopted in 1908 for appropriating a sum of at least + 50,000,000 _yen_ annually to the purpose of redemption. + + _Local Finance._--Between 1878 and 1888 a system of local autonomy in + matters of finance was fully established. Under this system the total + expenditures of the various corporations in the last year of each + quinquennial period commencing from the fiscal year 1889-1890 were as + follow:-- + + Total Expenditure + Year. (millions of _yen_). + + 1889-1890 22 + 1893-1894 52 + 1898-1899 97 + 1903-1904[28] 158 + 1907-1908 167 + + In the same years the total indebtedness of the corporations was:-- + + Debts + Year. (millions of _yen_). + + 1890 ¾ + 1894 10 + 1899 32 + 1904 65 + 1907 89[29] + + The chief purposes to which the proceeds of these loans were applied + are as follow:-- + + Millions of _yen_. + + Education 5 + Sanitation 12 + Industries 13 + Public works 52 + + Local corporations are not competent to incur unrestricted + indebtedness. The endorsement of the local assembly must be secured; + redemption must commence within 3 years after the date of issue and be + completed within 30 years; and, except in the case of very small + loans, the sanction of the minister of home affairs must be obtained. + + _Wealth of Japan._--With reference to the wealth of Japan, there is no + official census. So far as can be estimated from statistics for the + year 1904-1905, the wealth of Japan proper, excluding Formosa, + Sakhalin and some rights in Manchuria, amounts to about 19,896,000,000 + _yen_, the items of which are as follow:-- + + _Yen_ (10 _yen_ = £1). + + Lands 12,301,000,000 + Buildings 2,331,000,000 + Furniture and fittings 1,080,000,000 + Live stock 109,000,000 + Railways, telegraphs and telephones 707,000,000 + Shipping 376,000,000 + Merchandise 873,000,000 + Specie and bullion 310,000,000 + Miscellaneous 1,809,000,000 + -------------- + Grand total 19,896,000,000 + + + Early Education. + +_Education._--There is no room to doubt that the literature and learning +of China and Korea were transported to Japan in very ancient times, but +tradition is the sole authority for current statements that in the 3rd +century a Korean immigrant was appointed historiographer to the Imperial +court of Japan and another learned man from the same country introduced +the Japanese to the treasures of Chinese literature. About the end of +the 6th century the Japanese court began to send civilians and +religionists direct to China, there to study Confucianism and Buddhism, +and among these travellers there were some who passed as much as 25 or +30 years beyond the sea. The knowledge acquired by these students was +crystallized into a body of laws and ordinances based on the +administrative and legal systems of the Sui dynasty in China, and in the +middle of the 7th century the first Japanese school seems to have been +established by the emperor Tenchi, followed some 50 years later by the +first university. Nara was the site of the latter, and the subjects of +study were ethics, law, history and mathematics. + +Not until 794, the date of the transfer of the capital to Kioto, +however, is there any evidence of educational organization on a +considerable scale. A university was then opened in the capital, with +affiliated colleges; and local schools were built and endowed by noble +families, to whose scions admittance was restricted, but for general +education one institution only appears to have been provided. In this +Kioto university the curriculum included the Chinese classics, +calligraphy, history, law, etiquette, arithmetic and composition; while +in the affiliated colleges special subjects were taught, as medicine, +herbalism, acupuncture, shampooing, divination, the almanac and +languages. Admission was limited to youths of high social grade; the +students aggregated some 400, from 13 to 16 years of age; the faculty +included professors and teachers, who were known by the same titles +(_hakase_ and _shi_) as those applied to their successors to-day; and +the government supplied food and clothing as well as books. The family +schools numbered five, and their patrons were the Wage, the Fujiwara, +the Tachibana (one school each) and the Minamoto (two). At the one +institution--opened in 828--where youths in general might receive +instruction, the course embraced only calligraphy and the precepts of +Buddhism and Confucianism. + + + Combination of Native and Foreign Element. + +The above retrospect suggests that Japan, in those early days, borrowed +her educational system and its subjects of study entirely from China. +But closer scrutiny shows that the national factor was carefully +preserved. The ethics of administration required a combination of two +elements, _wakon_, or the soul of Japan, and _kwansai_, or the ability +of China; so that, while adopting from Confucianism the doctrine of +filial piety, the Japanese grafted on it a spirit of unswerving loyalty +and patriotism; and while accepting Buddha's teaching as to three states +of existence, they supplemented it by a belief that in the life beyond +the grave the duty of guarding his country would devolve on every man. +Great academic importance attached to proficiency in literary +composition, which demanded close study of the ideographic script, +endlessly perplexing in form and infinitely delicate in sense. To be +able to compose and indite graceful couplets constituted a passport to +high office as well as to the favour of great ladies, for women vied +with men in this accomplishment. The early years of the 11th century +saw, grouped about the empress Aki, a galaxy of female authors whose +writings are still accounted their country's classics--Murasaki no +Shikibu, Akazome Emon, Izumi Shikibu, Ise Taiyu and several lesser +lights. To the first two Japan owes the _Genji monogatari_ and the _Eiga +monogatari_, respectively, and from the Imperial court of those remote +ages she inherited admirable models of painting, calligraphy, poetry, +music, song and dance. But it is to be observed that all this refinement +was limited virtually to the noble families residing in Kioto, and that +the first object of education in that era was to fit men for office and +for society. + + + Education in the Middle Ages. + +Meanwhile, beyond the precincts of the capital there were rapidly +growing to maturity numerous powerful military magnates who despised +every form of learning that did not contribute to martial excellence. An +illiterate era ensued which reached its climax with the establishment of +feudalism at the close of the 12th century. It is recorded that, about +that time, only one man out of a force of five thousand could decipher +an Imperial mandate addressed to them. Kamakura, then the seat of feudal +government, was at first distinguished for absence of all intellectual +training, but subsequently the course of political events brought +thither from Kioto a number of court nobles whose erudition and +refinement acted as a potent leaven. Buddhism, too, had been from the +outset a strong educating influence. Under its auspices the first great +public library was established (1270) at the temple Shomyo-ji in +Kanazawa. It is said to have contained practically all the Chinese and +Japanese books then existing, and they were open for perusal by every +class of reader. To Buddhist priests, also, Japan owed during many years +all the machinery she possessed for popular education. They organized +schools at the temples scattered about in almost every part of the +empire, and at these _tera-koya_, as they were called, lessons in +ethics, calligraphy, reading and etiquette were given to the sons of +samurai and even to youths of the mercantile and manufacturing classes. + + + Education in the pre-Meiji Era. + +When, at the beginning of the 17th century, administrative supremacy +fell into the hands of the Tokugawa, the illustrious founder of that +dynasty of shoguns, Iyeyasu, showed himself an earnest promoter of +erudition. He employed a number of priests to make copies of Chinese and +Japanese books; he patronized men of learning and he endowed schools. It +does not appear to have occurred to him, however, that the spread of +knowledge was hampered by a restriction which, emanating originally from +the Imperial court in Kioto, forbade any one outside the ranks of the +Buddhist priesthood to become a public teacher. To his fifth successor +Tsunayoshi (1680-1709) was reserved the honour of abolishing this veto. +Tsunayoshi, whatever his faults, was profoundly attached to literature. +By his command a pocket edition of the Chinese classics was prepared, +and the example he himself set in reading and expounding rare books to +audiences of feudatories and their vassals produced something like a +mania for erudition, so that feudal chiefs competed in engaging teachers +and founding schools. The eighth shogun, Yoshimune (1716-1749), was an +even more enlightened ruler. He caused a geography to be compiled and an +astronomical observatory to be constructed; he revoked the veto on the +study of foreign books; he conceived and carried out the idea of +imparting moral education through the medium of calligraphy by preparing +ethical primers whose precepts were embodied in the head-lines of +copy-books, and he encouraged private schools. Iyenari (1787-1838), the +eleventh shogun, and his immediate successor, Iyeyoshi (1838-1853), +patronized learning no less ardently, and it was under the auspices of +the latter that Japan acquired her five classics, the primers of _True +Words_, of _Great Learning_, of _Lesser Learning_, of _Female Ethics_ +and of _Women's Filial Piety_. + +Thus it may be said that the system of education progressed steadily +throughout the Tokugawa era. From the days of Tsunayoshi the number of +fief schools steadily increased, and as students were admitted free of +all charges, a duty of grateful fealty as well as the impulse of +interfief competition drew thither the sons of all samurai. Ultimately +the number of such schools rose to over 240, and being supported +entirely at the expense of the feudal chiefs, they did no little honour +to the spirit of the era. From 7 to 15 years of age lads attended as day +scholars, being thereafter admitted as boarders, and twice a year +examinations were held in the presence of high officials of the fief. +There were also several private schools where the curriculum consisted +chiefly of moral philosophy, and there were many temple schools, where +ethics, calligraphy, arithmetic, etiquette and, sometimes, commercial +matters were taught. A prominent feature of the system was the bond of +reverential affection uniting teacher and student. Before entering +school a boy was conducted by his father or elder brother to the home of +his future teacher, and there the visitors, kneeling before the teacher, +pledged themselves to obey him in all things and to submit +unquestioningly to any discipline he might impose. Thus the teacher came +to be regarded as a parent, and the veneration paid to him was embodied +in a precept: "Let not a pupil tread within three feet of his teacher's +shadow." In the case of the temple schools the priestly instructor had +full cognisance of each student's domestic circumstances and was guided +by that knowledge in shaping the course of instruction. The universally +underlying principle was, "serve the country and be diligent in your +respective avocations." Sons of samurai were trained in military arts, +and on attaining proficiency many of them travelled about the country, +inuring their bodies to every kind of hardship and challenging all +experts of local fame. + +Unfortunately, however, the policy of national seclusion prevented for a +long time all access to the stores of European knowledge. Not until the +beginning of the 18th century did any authorized account of the great +world of the West pass into the hands of the people. A celebrated +scholar (Arai Hakuseki) then compiled two works--_Saiyo kibun_ (_Record +of Occidental Hearsay_), and _Sairan igen_ (_Renderings of Foreign +Languages_)--which embodied much information, obtained from Dutch +sources, about Europe, its conditions and its customs. But of course the +light thus furnished had very restricted influence. It was not +extinguished, however. Thenceforth men's interest centred more and more +on the astronomical, geographical and medical sciences of the West, +though such subjects were not included in academical studies until the +renewal of foreign intercourse in modern times. Then (1857), almost +immediately, the nation turned to Western learning, as it had turned to +Chinese thirteen centuries earlier. The Tokugawa government established +in Yedo an institution called _Bansho-shirabe-dokoro_ (place for +studying foreign books), where Occidental languages were learned and +Occidental works translated. Simultaneously a school for acquiring +foreign medical art (_Seiyo igaku-sho_) was opened, and, a little later +(1862), the _Kaisei-jo_ (place of liberal culture), a college for +studying European sciences, was added to the list of new institutions. +Thus the eve of the Restoration saw the Japanese people already +appreciative of the stores of learning rendered accessible to them by +contact with the Occident. + + + Commercial Education in Tokugawa Times. + +Commercial education was comparatively neglected in the schools. Sons of +merchants occasionally attended the _tera-koya_, but the instruction +they received there had seldom any bearing upon the conduct of trade. +Mercantile knowledge had to be acquired by a system of apprenticeship. A +boy of 9 or 10 was apprenticed for a period of 8 or 9 years to a +merchant, who undertook to support him and teach him a trade. Generally +this young apprentice could not even read or write. He passed through +all the stages of shop menial, errand boy, petty clerk, salesman and +senior clerk, and in the evenings he received instruction from a +teacher, who used for textbooks the manual of letter-writing (_Shosoku +orai_) and the manual of commerce (_Shobai orai_). The latter contained +much useful information, and a youth thoroughly versed in its contents +was competent to discharge responsible duties. When an apprentice, +having attained the position of senior clerk, had given proof of +practical ability, he was often assisted by his master to start business +independently, but under the same firm-name, for which purpose a sum of +capital was given to him or a section of his master's customers were +assigned. + + + Education in Modern Japan. + +When the government of the Restoration came into power, the emperor +solemnly announced that the administration should be conducted on the +principle of employing men of capacity wherever they could be found. +This amounted to a declaration that in choosing officials scholastic +acquirements would thenceforth take precedence of the claims of birth, +and thus unprecedented importance was seen to attach to education. But +so long as the feudal system survived, even in part, no general scheme +of education could be thoroughly enforced, and thus it was not until the +conversion of the fiefs into prefectures in 1871 that the government saw +itself in a position to take drastic steps. A commission of +investigation was sent to Europe and America, and on its return a very +elaborate and extensive plan was drawn up in accordance with French +models, which the commissioners had found conspicuously complete and +symmetrical. This plan subsequently underwent great modifications. It +will be sufficient to say that in consideration of the free education +hitherto provided by the feudatories in their various fiefs, the +government of the restoration resolved not only that the state should +henceforth shoulder the main part of this burden, but also that the +benefits of the system should be extended equally to all classes of the +population, and that the attendance at primary schools should be +compulsory. At the outset the sum to be paid by the treasury was fixed +at 2,000,000 _yen_, that having been approximately the expenditure +incurred by the feudatories. But the financial arrangements suffered +many changes from time to time, and finally, in 1877, the cost of +maintaining the schools became a charge on the local taxes, the central +treasury granting only sums in aid. + + Every child, on attaining the age of six, must attend a common + elementary school, where, during a six-years' course, instruction is + given in morals, reading, arithmetic, the rudiments of technical work, + gymnastics and poetry. Year by year the attendance at these schools + has increased. Thus, whereas in the year 1900, only 81.67% of the + school-age children of both sexes received the prescribed elementary + instruction, the figure in 1905 was 94.93%. The desire for instruction + used to be keener among boys than among girls, as was natural in view + of the difference of inducement; but ultimately this discrepancy + disappeared almost completely. Thus, whereas the percentage of girls + attending school was 75.90 in 1900, it rose to 91.46 in 1905, and the + corresponding figures for boys were 90.55 and 97.10 respectively. The + tuition fee paid at a common elementary school in the rural districts + must not exceed 5s. yearly, and in the urban districts, 10s.; but in + practice it is much smaller, for these elementary schools form part of + the communal system, and such portion of their expenses as is not + covered by tuition fees, income from school property and miscellaneous + sources, must be defrayed out of the proceeds of local taxation. In + 1909 there were 18,160 common elementary schools, and also 9105 + schools classed as elementary but having sections where, subsequently + to the completion of the regular curriculum, a special supplementary + course of study might be pursued in agriculture, commerce or industry + (needle-work in the case of girls). The time devoted to these special + courses is two, three or four years, according to the degree of + proficiency contemplated, and the maximum fees are 15d. per month in + urban districts and one-half of that amount in rural districts. + + There are also 294 kindergartens, with an attendance of 26,000 + infants, whose parents pay 3d. per month on the average for each + child. In general the kindergartens are connected with elementary + schools or with normal schools. + + If a child, after graduation at a common elementary school, desires to + extend its education, it passes into a common middle school, where + training is given for practical pursuits or for admission to higher + educational institutions. The ordinary curriculum at a common middle + school includes moral philosophy, English language, history, + geography, mathematics, natural history, natural philosophy, + chemistry, drawing and the Japanese language. Five years are required + to graduate, and from the fourth year the student may take up a + special technical course as well as the main course; or, in accordance + with local requirements, technical subjects may be taught conjointly + with the regular curriculum throughout the whole time. The law + provides that there must be at least one common middle school in each + prefecture. The actual number in 1909 was 216. + + Great inducements attract attendance at a common middle school. Not + only does the graduation certificate carry considerable weight as a + general qualification, but it also entitles a young man to volunteer + for one year's service with the colours, thus escaping one of the two + years he would have to serve as an ordinary conscript. + + The graduate of a common middle school can claim admittance, without + examination, to a high school, where he spends three years preparing + to pass to a university, or four years studying a special subject, as + law, engineering or medicine. By following the course in a high + school, a youth obtains exemption from conscription until the age of + 28, when one year as a volunteer will free him from all service with + the colours. A high-school certificate of graduation entitles its + holder to enter a university without examination, and qualifies him + for all public posts. + + For girls also high schools are provided, the object being to give a + general education of higher standard. Candidates for admission must be + over 12 years of age, and must have completed the second-year course + of a higher elementary school. The regular course of study requires 4 + years, and supplementary courses as well as special art courses may be + taken. + + In addition to the schools already enumerated, which may be said to + constitute the machinery of general education, there are special + schools, generally private, and technical schools (including a few + private), where instruction is given in medicine and surgery, + agriculture, commerce, mechanics, applied chemistry, navigation, + electrical engineering, art (pictorial and applied), veterinary + science, sericulture and various other branches of industry. There are + also apprentices' schools, classed under the heading of elementary, + where a course of not less than six months, and not more than four + years, may be taken in dyeing and weaving, embroidery, the making of + artificial flowers, tobacco manufacture, sericulture, reeling silk, + pottery, lacquer, woodwork, metal-work or brewing. There are also + schools--nearly all supported by private enterprise--for the blind and + the dumb. + + Normal schools are maintained for the purpose of training teachers, a + class of persons not plentiful in Japan, doubtless because of an + exceptionally low scale of emoluments, the yearly pay not exceeding + £60 and often falling as low as £15. + + There are two Imperial universities, one in Tokyo and one in Kioto. In + 1909 the former had about 220 professors and instructors and 2880 + students. Its colleges number six: law, medicine, engineering, + literature, science and agriculture. It has a university hall where + post-graduate courses are studied, and it publishes a quarterly + journal giving accounts of scientific researches, which indicate not + only large erudition, but also original talent. The university of + Kioto is a comparatively new institution and has not given any signs + of great vitality. In 1909 its colleges numbered four: law, medicine, + literature and science; its faculty consisted of about 60 professors + with 70 assistants, and its students aggregated about 1100. + + Except in the cases specially indicated, all the figures given above + are independent of private educational institutions. The system + pursued by the state does not tend to encourage private education, for + unless a private school brings its curriculum into exact accord with + that prescribed for public institutions of corresponding grade, its + students are denied the valuable privilege of partial exemption from + conscription, as well as other advantages attaching to state + recognition. Thus the quality of the instruction being nominally the + same, the rate of fees must also be similar, and no margin offers to + tempt private enterprise. + + Public education in Japan is strictly secular: no religious teaching + of any kind is permitted in the schools. There are about 100 + libraries. Progress is marked in this branch, the rate of growth + having been from 43 to 100 in the five-year period ended 1905. The + largest library is the Imperial, in Tokyo. It had about half a million + volumes in 1909, and the daily average of visitors was about 430. + + Apart from the universities, the public educational institutions in + Japan involve an annual expenditure of 3½ millions sterling, out of + which total a little more than half a million is met by students' + fees; 2¾ millions are paid by the communes, and the remainder is + defrayed from various sources, the central government contributing + only some £28,000. It is estimated that public school property--in + land, buildings, books, furniture, &c., aggregates 11 millions + sterling. + + +VII.--RELIGION + + Shinto. + +The primitive religion of Japan is known by the name of Shinto, which +signifies "the divine way," but the Japanese maintain that this term is +of comparatively modern application. The term Shinto being obviously of +Chinese origin, cannot have been used in Japan before she became +acquainted with the Chinese language. Now Buddhism did not reach Japan +until the 6th century, and a knowledge of the Chinese language had +preceded it by only a hundred years. It is therefore reasonable to +conclude that the primitive religion of Japan had no name, and that it +did not begin to be called Shinto until Buddhism had entered the field. +The two creeds remained distinct, though not implacably antagonistic, +until the beginning of the 9th century, when they were welded together +into a system of doctrine to which the name _Ryobu-Shinto_ (dual Shinto) +was given. In this new creed the Shinto deities were regarded as avatars +of Buddhist divinities, and thus it may be said that Shinto was absorbed +into Buddhism. Probably that would have been the fate of the indigenous +creed in any circumstances, for a religion without a theory as to a +future state and without any code of moral duties could scarcely hope to +survive contact with a faith so well equipped as Buddhism in these +respects. But Shinto, though absorbed, was not obliterated. Its beliefs +survived; its shrines survived; its festivals survived, and something of +its rites survived also. + +Shinto, indeed, may be said to be entwined about the roots of Japan's +national existence. Its scripture--as the _Kojiki_ must be +considered--resembles the Bible in that both begin with the cosmogony. +But it represents the gods as peopling the newly created earth with +their own offspring instead of with human beings expressly made for the +purpose. The actual work of creation was done by a male deity, Izanagi, +and a female deity, Izanami. From the right eye of the former was born +Amaterasu, who became goddess of the sun; from his left eye, the god of +the moon; and from his nose, a species of Lucifer. The grandson of the +sun goddess was the first sovereign of Japan, and his descendants have +ruled the land in unbroken succession ever since, the 121st being on the +throne in 1909. Thus it is to Amaterasu (the heaven-illuminating +goddess) that the Japanese pay reverence above all other deities, and it +is to her shrine at Ise that pilgrims chiefly flock. + +The story of creation, as related in the _Kojiki_, is obviously based on +a belief that force is indestructible, and that every exercise of it is +productive of some permanent result. Thus by the motions of the creative +spirit there spring into existence all the elements that go to make up +the universe, and these, being of divine origin, are worshipped and +propitiated. Their number becomes immense when we add the deified ghosts +of ancestors who were descended from the gods and whose names are +associated with great deeds. These ancestors are often regarded as the +tutelary deities of districts, where they receive special homage and +where shrines are erected to them. The method of worship consists in +making offerings and in the recital of rituals (_norito_). Twenty-seven +of these rituals were reduced to writing and embodied in a work called +_Engishiki_ (927). Couched in antique language, these liturgies are +designed for the dedication of shrines, for propitiating evil, for +entreating blessings on the harvest, for purification, for obtaining +household security, for bespeaking protection during a journey, and so +forth. Nowhere is any reference found to a future state of reward or +punishment, to deliverance from evil, to assistance in the path of +virtue. One ceremonial only is designed to avert the consequences of sin +or crime; namely, the rite of purification, which, by washing with water +and by the sacrifice of valuables, removes the pollution resulting from +all wrong-doing. Originally performed on behalf of individuals, this +_o-barai_ ultimately came to be a semi-annual ceremony for sweeping away +the sins of all the people. + +Shinto is thus a mixture of ancestor-worship and of nature-worship +without any explicit code of morals. It regards human beings as virtuous +by nature; assumes that each man's conscience is his best guide; and +while believing in a continued existence beyond the grave, entertains no +theory as to its pleasures or pains. Those that pass away become +disembodied spirits, inhabiting the world of darkness (_yomi-no-yo_) and +possessing power to bring sorrow or joy into the lives of their +survivors, on which account they are worshipped and propitiated. Purity +and simplicity being essential characteristics of the cult, its shrines +are built of white wood, absolutely without decorative features of any +kind, and fashioned as were the original huts of the first Japanese +settlers. There are no graven images--a fact attributed by some critics +to ignorance of the glyptic art on the part of the original +worshippers--but there is an emblem of the deity, which generally takes +the form of a sword, a mirror or a so-called jewel, these being the +insignia handed by the sun goddess to her grandson, the first ruler of +Japan. This emblem is not exposed to public view: it is enveloped in +silk and brocade and enclosed in a box at the back of the shrine. The +mirror sometimes prominent is a Buddhist innovation and has nothing to +do with the true emblem of the creed. + +From the 9th century, when Buddhism absorbed Shinto, the two grew +together so intimately that their differentiation seemed hopeless. But +in the middle of the 17th century a strong revival of the indigenous +faith was effected by the efforts of a group of illustrious scholars and +politicians, at whose head stood Mabuchi, Motoori and Hirata. These men +applied themselves with great diligence and acumen to reproduce the pure +Shinto of the _Kojiki_ and to restore it to its old place in the +nation's reverence, their political purpose being to educate a spirit of +revolt against the feudal system which deprived the emperor of +administrative power. The principles thus revived became the basis of +the restoration of 1867; Shinto rites and Shinto rituals were readopted, +and Buddhism fell for a season into comparative disfavour, Shinto being +regarded as the national religion. But Buddhism had twined its roots too +deeply around the heart of the people to be thus easily torn up. It +gradually recovered its old place, though not its old magnificence, for +its disestablishment at the hands of the Meiji government robbed it of a +large part of its revenues. + + + Buddhism. + +Buddhism entered China at the beginning of the Christian era, but not +until the 4th century did it obtain any strong footing. Thence, two +centuries later (522), it reached Japan through Korea. The reception +extended to it was not encouraging at first. Its images and its +brilliant appurtenances might well deter a nation which had never seen +an idol nor ever worshipped in a decorated temple. But the ethical +teachings and the positive doctrines of the foreign faith presented an +attractive contrast to the colourless Shinto. After a struggle, not +without bloodshed, Buddhism won its way. It owed much to the active +patronage of Shotoku taishi, prince-regent during the reign of the +empress Suiko (593-621). At his command many new temples were built; the +country was divided into dioceses under Buddhist prelates; priests were +encouraged to teach the arts of road-making and bridge-building, and +students were sent to China to investigate the mysteries of the faith at +its supposed fountain-head. Between the middle of the 7th century and +that of the 8th, six sects were introduced from China, all imperfect and +all based on the teachings of the Hinayana system. Up to this time the +propagandists of the creed had been chiefly Chinese and Korean teachers. +But from the 8th century onwards, when Kioto became the permanent +capital of the empire, Japanese priests of lofty intelligence and +profound piety began to repair to China and bring thence modified forms +of the doctrines current there. It was thus that Dengyo daishi (c. 800) +became the founder of the Tendai (heavenly tranquillity) sect and Kobo +daishi (774-834) the apostle of the Shingon (true word). Other sects +followed, until the country possessed six principal sects in all with +thirty-seven sub-sects. It must be remembered that Buddhism offers an +almost limitless field for eclecticism. There is not in the world any +literary production of such magnitude as the Chinese scriptures of the +Mahayana. "The canon is seven hundred times the amount of the New +Testament. Hsüan Tsang's translation of the _Prajna paramita_ is +twenty-five times as large as the whole Christian Bible." + +It is natural that out of such a mass of doctrine different systems +should be elaborated. The Buddhism that came to Japan prior to the days +of Dengyo daishi was that of the Vaipulya school, which seems to have +been accepted in its entirety. But the Tendai doctrines, introduced by +Dengyo, Iikaku and other fellow-thinkers, though founded mainly on the +_Saddharma pundarika_, were subjected to the process of eclecticism +which all foreign institutions undergo at Japanese hands. Dengyo studied +it in the monastery of Tientai which "had been founded towards the close +of the 6th century of our era on a lofty range of mountains in the +province of Chehkiang by the celebrated preacher Chikai" (Lloyd, +"Developments of Japanese Buddhism," _Transactions of the Asiatic +Society of Japan_, vol. xxii.), and carrying it to Japan he fitted its +disciplinary and meditative methods to the foundations of the sects +already existing there. + +This eclecticism was even more marked in the case of the Shingon (true +word) doctrines, taught by Dengyo's illustrious contemporary, Kobo +daishi, who was regarded as the incarnation of Vairocana. He led his +countrymen, by a path almost wholly his own, from the comparatively low +platform of Hinayana Buddhism, whose sole aim is individual salvation, +to the Mahayana doctrine, which teaches its devotee to strive after +perfect enlightenment, not for his own sake alone, but also that he may +help his fellows and intercede for them. Then followed the Jodo (Pure +Land) sect, introduced in 1153 by a priest, Senku, who is remembered by +later generations as Honen shonin. He taught salvation by faith +ritualistically expressed. The virtue that saves comes, not from +imitation of and conformity to the person and character of the saviour +Amida, but from blind trust in his efforts and ceaseless repetition of +pious formulae. It is really a religion of despair rather than of hope, +and in that respect it reflects the profound sympathy awakened in the +bosom of its teacher by the sorrows and sufferings of the troublous +times in which he lived. + +A favourite pupil of Honen shonin was Shinran (1173-1262). He founded +the Jodo Shinshu (true sect of jodo), commonly called simply Shinshu and +sometimes Monto, which subsequently became the most influential of +Japanese sects, with its splendid monasteries, the two Hongwana-ji in +Kioto. The differences between the doctrines of this sect and those of +its predecessors were that the former "divested itself of all +metaphysics"; knew nothing of a philosophy of religion, dispensed with a +multiplicity of acts of devotion and the keeping of many commandments; +did not impose any vows of celibacy or any renunciation of the world, +and simply made faith in Amida the all in all. In modern days the +Shinshu sect has been the most progressive of all Buddhist sects and has +freely sent forth its promising priests to study in Europe and America. +Its devotees make no use of charms or spells, which are common among the +followers of other sects. + +Anterior by a few years to that introduction of the Shinshu was the Zen +sect, which has three main divisions, the Rinzai (1168), the Soto (1223) +and the Obaku (1650). This is essentially a contemplative sect. Truth is +reached by pure contemplation, and knowledge can be transmitted from +heart to heart without the use of words. In that simple form the +doctrine was accepted by the Rinzai believers. But the founders of the +Soto branch--Shoyo taishi and Butsuji zenshi--added scholarship and +research to contemplation, and taught that the "highest wisdom and the +most perfect enlightenment are attained when all the elements of +phenomenal existence are recognized as empty, vain and unreal." This +creed played an important part in the development of Bushido, and its +priests have always been distinguished for erudition and indifference to +worldly possessions. + +Last but not least important among Japanese sects of Buddhism is the +Nichiren or Hokke, called after its founder, Nichiren (1222-1282). It +was based on the _Saddharma pundarika_, and it taught that there was +only one true Buddha--the moon in the heavens--the other Buddhas being +like the moon reflected in the waters, transient, shadowy reflections of +the Buddha of truth. It is this being who is the source of all +phenomenal existence, and in whom all phenomenal existence has its +being. The imperfect Buddhism teaches a chain of cause and effect; true +Buddhism teaches that the first link in this chain of cause and effect +is the Buddha of original enlightenment. When this point has been +reached true wisdom has at length been attained. Thus the monotheistic +faith of Christianity was virtually reached in one God in whom all +creatures "live, move and have their being." It will readily be +conceived that these varied doctrines caused dissension and strife among +the sects professing them. Sectarian controversies and squabbles were +nearly as prominent among Japanese Buddhists as they were among European +Christians, but to the credit of Buddhism it has to be recorded that the +stake and the rack never found a place among its instruments of +self-assertion. On the other hand, during the wars that devastated Japan +from the 12th to the end of the 16th century, many of the monasteries +became military camps, and the monks, wearing armour and wielding +glaives, fought in secular as well as religious causes. + + + Christianity in Modern Japan. + + The story of the first Christian missionaries to Japan is told + elsewhere (see § VIII. FOREIGN INTERCOURSE). Their work suffered an + interruption for more than 200 years until, in 1858, almost + simultaneously with the conclusion of the treaties, a small band of + Catholic fathers entered Japan from the Riukiu islands, where they had + carried on their ministrations since 1846. They found that, in the + neighbourhood of Nagasaki, there were some small communities where + Christian worship was still carried on. It would seem that these + communities had not been subjected to any severe official scrutiny. + But the arrival of the fathers revived the old question, and the + native Christians, or such of them as refused to apostatize, were + removed from their homes and sent into banishment. This was the last + example of religious intolerance in Japan. At the instance of the + foreign representatives in Tokyo the exiles were set at liberty in + 1873, and from that time complete freedom of conscience existed in + fact, though it was not declared by law until the promulgation of the + constitution in 1889. In 1905 there were 60,000 Roman Catholic + converts in Japan forming 360 congregations, with 130 missionaries and + 215 teachers, including 145 nuns. These were all European. They were + assisted by 32 Japanese priests, 52 Japanese nuns, 280 male catechists + and 265 female catechists and nurses. Three seminaries for native + priests existed, together with 58 schools and orphanages and two + lepers' homes. The whole was presided over by an archbishop and three + bishops. + + The Anglican Church was established in Japan in 1859 by two American + clergymen who settled in Nagasaki, and now, in conjunction with the + Episcopal Churches of America and Canada, it has missions collectively + designated Nihon Sei-Kokai. There are 6 bishops--2 American and 4 + English--with about 60 foreign and 50 Japanese priests and deacons, + besides many foreign lay workers of both sexes and Japanese catechists + and school teachers. The converts number 11,000. The Protestant + missions include Presbyterian (Nihon Kirisuto Kyokai), Congregational + (Kumi-ai), Methodist, Baptist and the Salvation Army (Kyusei-gun). The + pioneer Protestant mission was founded in 1859 by representatives of + the American Presbyterian and Dutch Reformed Churches. To this mission + belongs the credit of having published, in 1880, the first complete + Japanese version of the New Testament, followed by the Old Testament + in 1887. The Presbyterians, representing 7 religious societies, have + over a hundred missionaries; 12,400 converts; a number of boarding + schools for boys and girls and day schools. The Congregational + churches are associated exclusively with the mission of the American + board of commissioners for foreign missions. They have about 11,400 + converts, and the largest Christian educational institution in Japan, + namely, the Doshisha in Kioto. The Methodists represent 6 American + societies and 1 Canadian. They have 130 missionaries and 10,000 + converts; boarding schools, day schools, and the most important + Christian college in Tokyo, namely, the Awoyama Gaku-in. The Baptists + represent 4 American societies; have 60 missionaries, a theological + seminary, an academy for boys, boarding schools for girls, day schools + and 3500 converts. The Salvation Army, which did not enter Japan until + 1895, has organized 15 corps, and publishes ten thousand copies of a + fortnightly magazine, the _War Cry_ (_Toki no Koe_). Finally, the + Society of Friends, the American and London Religious Tract Societies + and the Young Men's Christian Association have a number of missions. + It will be seen from the above that the missionaries in Japan, in the + space of half a century (1858 to 1908), had won 110,000 converts, in + round numbers. To these must be added the Orthodox Russian Church, + which has a fine cathedral in Tokyo, a staff of about 40 Japanese + priests and deacons and 27,000 converts, the whole presided over by a + bishop. Thus the total number of converts becomes 137,000. In spite + of the numerous sects represented in Japan there has been virtually no + sectarian strife, and it may be said of the Japanese converts that + they concern themselves scarcely at all about the subtleties of dogma + which divide European Christianity. Their tendency is to consider only + the practical aspects of the faith as a moral and ethical guide. They + are disposed, also, to adapt the creed to their own requirements just + as they adapted Buddhism, and this is a disposition which promises to + grow. + + +VIII.--FOREIGN INTERCOURSE + +_Foreign Intercourse in Early and Medieval Times._--There can be no +doubt that commerce was carried on by Japan with China and Korea earlier +that the 8th century of the Christian era. It would appear that from the +very outset over-sea trade was regarded as a government monopoly. +Foreigners were allowed to travel freely in the interior of the country +provided that they submitted their baggage for official inspection and +made no purchases of weapons of war, but all imported goods were bought +in the first place by official appraisers who subsequently sold them to +the people at arbitrarily fixed prices. Greater importance attached to +the trade with China under the Ashikaga shoguns (14th, 15th and 16th +centuries), who were in constant need of funds to defray the cost of +interminable military operations caused by civil disturbances. In this +distress they turned to the neighbouring empire as a source from which +money might be obtained. This idea seems to have been suggested to the +shogun Takauji by a Buddhist priest, when he undertook the construction +of the temple Tenryu-ji. Two ships laden with goods were fitted out, and +it was decided that the enterprise should be repeated annually. Within a +few years after this development of commercial relations between the two +empires, an interruption occurred owing partly to the overthrow of the +Yuen Mongols by the Chinese Ming, and partly to the activity of Japanese +pirates and adventurers who raided the coasts of China. The shogun +Yoshimitsu (1368-1394), however, succeeded in restoring commercial +intercourse, though in order to effect his object he consented that +goods sent from Japan should bear the character of tribute and that he +himself should receive investiture at the hands of the Chinese emperor's +ambassador. The Nanking government granted a certain number of +commercial passports, and these were given by the shogun to Ouchi, +feudal chief of Cho-shu, which had long been the principal port for +trade with the neighbouring empire. Tribute goods formed only a small +fraction of a vessel's cargo: the bulk consisted of articles which were +delivered into the government's stores in China, payment being received +in copper cash. It was from this transaction that the shogun derived a +considerable part of his profits, for the articles did not cost him +anything originally, being either presents from the great temples and +provincial governors or compulsory contributions from the house of +Ouchi. As for the gifts by the Chinese government and the goods shipped +in China, they were arbitrarily distributed among the noble families in +Japan at prices fixed by the shogun's assessor. Thus, so far as the +shogun was concerned, these enterprises could not fail to be lucrative. +They also brought large profits to the Ouchi family, for, in the absence +of competition, the products and manufactures of each country found +ready sale in the markets of the other. The articles found most suitable +in China were swords, fans, screens, lacquer wares, copper and agate, +and the goods brought back to Japan were brocade and other silk fabrics, +ceramic productions, jade and fragrant woods. The Chinese seem to have +had a just appreciation of the wonderful swords of Japan. At first they +were willing to pay the equivalent of 12 guineas for a pair of blades, +but by degrees, as the Japanese began to increase the supply, the price +fell, and at the beginning of the 16th century all the diplomacy of the +Japanese envoys was needed to obtain good figures for the large and +constantly growing quantity of goods that they took over by way of +supplement to the tribute. Buddhist priests generally enjoyed the +distinction of being selected as envoys, for experience showed that +their subtle reasoning invariably overcame the economical scruples of +the Chinese authorities and secured a fine profit for their master, the +shogun. In the middle of the 16th century these tribute-bearing +missions came to an end with the ruin of the Ouchi family and the +overthrow of the Ashikaga shoguns, and they were never renewed. + + + With Korea. + +Japan's medieval commerce with Korea was less ceremonious than that with +China. No passports had to be obtained from the Korean government. A +trader was sufficiently equipped when he carried a permit from the So +family, which held the island of Tsushima in fief. Fifty vessels were +allowed to pass yearly from ports in Japan to the three Japanese +settlements in Korea. Little is recorded about the nature of this trade, +but it was rudely interrupted by the Japanese settlers, who, offended at +some arbitrary procedure on the part of the local Korean authorities, +took up arms (A.D. 1510) and at first signally routed the Koreans. An +army from Seoul turned the tables, and the Japanese were compelled to +abandon the three settlements. Subsequently the shogun's +government--which had not been concerned in the struggle--approached +Korea with amicable proposals, and it was agreed that the ringleaders of +the raiders should be decapitated and their heads sent to Seoul, Japan's +compliance with this condition affording, perhaps, a measure of the +value she attached to neighbourly friendship. Thenceforth the number of +vessels was limited to 25 annually and the settlements were abolished. +Some years later, the Japanese again resorted to violent acts of +self-assertion, and on this occasion, although the offenders were +arrested by order of the shogun Yoshiharu, and handed over to Korea for +punishment, the Seoul court persisted in declining to restore the system +of settlements or to allow the trade to be resumed on its former basis. +Fifty years afterwards the taiko's armies invaded Korea, overrunning it +for seven years, and leaving, when they retired in 1598, a country so +impoverished that it no longer offered any attraction to commercial +enterprise from beyond the sea. + + + With Occidental Nations. + +The Portuguese discovered Japan by accident in 1542 or 1543--the exact +date is uncertain. On a voyage to Macao from Siam, a junk carrying three +Portuguese was blown from her course and fetched Tanegashima, a small +island lying south of the province of Satsuma. The Japanese, always +hospitable and inquisitive, welcomed the newcomers and showed special +curiosity about the arquebuses carried by the Portuguese, fire-arms +being then a novelty in Japan and all weapons of war being in great +request. Conversation was impossible, of course, but, by tracing +ideographs upon the sand, a Chinese member of the crew succeeded in +explaining the cause of the junk's arrival. She was then piloted to a +more commodious harbour, and the Portuguese sold two arquebuses to the +local feudatory, who immediately ordered his armourer to manufacture +similar weapons. Very soon the news of the discovery reached all the +Portuguese settlements in the East, and at least seven expeditions were +fitted out during the next few years to exploit this new market. Their +objective points were all in the island of Kiushiu--the principal stage +where the drama--ultimately converted into a tragedy--of Christian +propagandism and European commercial intercourse was acted in the +interval between 1542 and 1637. + + + Arrival of the Jesuits. + +It does not appear that the Jesuits at Macao, Goa or other centres of +Portuguese influence in the East took immediate advantage of the +discovery of Japan. The pioneer propagandist was Francis Xavier, who +landed at Kagoshima on the 15th of August 1549. During the interval of +six (or seven) years that separated this event from the drifting of the +junk to Tanegashima, the Portuguese had traded freely in the ports of +Kiushiu, had visited Kioto, and had reported the Japanese capital to be +a city of 96,000 houses, therefore larger than Lisbon. Xavier would +certainly have gone to Japan even though he had not been specially +encouraged, for the reports of his countrymen depicted the Japanese as +"very desirous of being instructed," and he longed to find a field more +promising than that inhabited by "all these Indian nations, barbarous, +vicious and without inclination to virtue." There were, however, two +special determinants. One was a request addressed by a feudatory, +supposed to have been the chief of the Bungo fief, to the viceroy of +the Indies at Goa; the other, an appeal made in person by a Japanese +named Yajiro, whom the fathers spoke of as Anjiro, and who subsequently +attained celebrity under his baptismal name, Paul of the holy faith. No +credible reason is historically assigned for the action of the Japanese +feudatory. Probably his curiosity had been excited by accounts which the +Portuguese traders gave of the noble devotion of their country's +missionaries, and being entirely without bigotry, as nearly all Japanese +were at that epoch, he issued the invitation partly out of curiosity and +partly from a sincere desire for progress. Anjiro's case was very +different. Labouring under stress of repentant zeal, and fearful that +his evil acts might entail murderous consequences, he sought an asylum +abroad, and was taken away in 1548 by a Portuguese vessel whose master +advised him to repair to Malacca for the purpose of confessing to +Xavier. This might well have seemed to the Jesuits a providential +dispensation, for Anjiro, already able to speak Portuguese, soon +mastered it sufficiently to interpret for Xavier and his +fellow-missionaries (without which aid they must have remained long +helpless in the face of the immense difficulty of the Japanese +language), and to this linguistic skill he added extraordinary gifts of +intelligence and memory. Xavier, with two Portuguese companions and +Anjiro, were excellently received by the feudal chiefs of Satsuma and +obtained permission to preach their doctrine in any part of the fief. +This permit is not to be construed as an evidence of official sympathy +with the foreign creed. Commercial considerations alone were in +question. A Japanese feudal chief in that era had sedulously to foster +every source of wealth or strength, and as the newly opened trade with +the outer world seemed full of golden promise, each feudatory was not +less anxious to secure a monopoly of it in the 16th century than the +Ashikaga shoguns had been in the 15th. The Satsuma daimyo was led to +believe that the presence of the Jesuits in Kagoshima would certainly +prelude the advent of trading vessels. But within a few months one of +the expected merchantmen sailed to Hirado without touching at Kagoshima, +and her example was followed by two others in the following year, so +that the Satsuma chief saw himself flouted for the sake of a petty +rival, Matsudaira of Hirado. This fact could not fail to provoke his +resentment. But there was another influence at work. Buddhism has always +been a tolerant religion, eclectic rather than exclusive. Xavier, +however, had all the bigoted intolerance of his time. The Buddhist +priests in Kagoshima received him with courtesy and listened +respectfully to the doctrines he expounded through the mouth of Anjiro. +Xavier rejoined with a display of aggressive intolerance which shocked +and alienated the Buddhists. They represented to the Satsuma chief that +peace and good order were inconsistent with such a display of militant +propagandism, and he, already profoundly chagrined by his commercial +disappointment, issued in 1550 an edict making it a capital offence for +any of his vassals to embrace Christianity. Xavier, or, more correctly +speaking, Anjiro, had won 150 converts, who remained without +molestation, but Xavier himself took ship for Hirado. There he was +received with salvoes of artillery by the Portuguese merchantmen lying +in the harbour and with marks of profound respect by the Portuguese +traders, a display which induced the local chief to issue orders that +courteous attention should be paid to the teaching of the foreign +missionaries. In ten days a hundred baptisms took place; another +significant index of the mood of the Japanese in the early era of +Occidental intercourse: the men in authority always showed a complaisant +attitude towards Christianity where trade could be fostered by so doing, +and wherever the men in authority showed such an attitude, considerable +numbers of the lower orders embraced the foreign faith. Thus, in +considering the commercial history of the era, the element of religion +constantly thrusts itself into the foreground. + + + First Visit of Europeans to Kioto. + +Xavier next resolved to visit Kioto. The first town of importance he +reached on the way was Yamaguchi, capital of the Choshu fief, situated +on the northern shore of the Shimonoseki Strait. There the feudal chief, +Ouchi, though sufficiently courteous and inquisitive, showed no special +cordiality towards humble missionaries unconnected with commerce, and +the work of proselytizing made no progress, so that Xavier and his +companion, Fernandez, pushed on to Kioto. The time was mid-winter; the +two fathers suffered terrible privations during their journey of two +months on foot, and on reaching Kioto they found a city which had been +almost wholly reduced to ruins by internecine war. Necessarily they +failed to obtain audience of either emperor or shogun, at that time the +most inaccessible potentates in the world, the Chinese "son of heaven" +excepted, and nothing remained but street preaching, a strange resource, +seeing that Xavier, constitutionally a bad linguist, had only a most +rudimentary acquaintance with the profoundly difficult tongue in which +he attempted to expound the mysteries of a novel creed. A fortnight +sufficed to convince him that Kioto was unfruitful soil. He therefore +returned to Yamaguchi. But he had now learned a lesson. He saw that +propagandism without scrip or staff and without the countenance of those +sitting in the seats of power would be futile in Japan. So he obtained +from Hirado his canonicals, together with a clock and other novel +products of European skill, which, as well as credentials from the +viceroy of India, the governor of Malacca and the bishop of Goa, he +presented to the Choshu chief. His prayer for permission to preach +Christianity was now readily granted, and Ouchi issued a proclamation +announcing his approval of the introduction of the new religion and +according perfect liberty to embrace it. Xavier and Fernandez now made +many converts. They also gained the valuable knowledge that the road to +success in Japan lay in associating themselves with over-sea commerce +and its directors, and in thus winning the co-operation of the feudal +chiefs. + + + Christian Propagandists. + +Nearly ten years had now elapsed since the first Portuguese landed in +Kagoshima, and during that time trade had gone on steadily and +prosperously. No attempt was made to find markets in the main island: +the Portuguese confined themselves to Kiushiu for two reasons: one, that +having no knowledge of the coasts, they hesitated to risk their ships +and their lives in unsurveyed waters; the other, that whereas the main +island, almost from end to end, was seething with internecine war, +Kiushiu remained beyond the pale of disturbance and enjoyed comparative +tranquillity. At the time of Xavier's second sojourn in Yamaguchi, a +Portuguese ship happened to be visiting Bungo, and at its master's +suggestion the great missionary proceeded thither, with the intention of +returning temporarily to the Indies. At Bungo there was then ruling +Otomo, second in power to only the Satsuma chief among the feudatories +of Kiushiu. By him the Jesuit father was received with all honour. +Xavier did not now neglect the lesson he had learned in Yamaguchi. He +repaired to the Bungo chieftain's court, escorted by nearly the whole of +the Portuguese crew, gorgeously bedizened, carrying their arms and with +banners flying. Otomo, a young and ambitious ruler, was keenly anxious +to attract foreign traders with their rich cargoes and puissant weapons +of war. Witnessing the reverence paid to Xavier by the Portuguese +traders, he appreciated the importance of gaining the goodwill of the +Jesuits, and accordingly not only granted them full freedom to teach and +preach, but also enjoined upon his younger brother, who, in the sequel +of a sudden rebellion, had succeeded to the lordship of Yamaguchi, the +advisability of extending protection to Torres and Fernandez, then +sojourning there. After some four months' stay in Bungo, Xavier set sail +for Goa in February 1552. Death overtook him in the last month of the +same year. + +Xavier's departure from Japan marked the conclusion of the first epoch +of Christian propagandism. His sojourn in Japan extended to 27 months. +In that time he and his coadjutors won about 760 converts. In Satsuma +more than a year's labour produced 150 believers. There Xavier had the +assistance of Anjiro to expound his doctrines. No language lends itself +with greater difficulty than Japanese to the discussion of theological +questions. The terms necessary for such a purpose are not current among +laymen, and only by special study, which, it need scarcely be said, +must be preluded by an accurate acquaintance with the tongue itself, can +a man hope to become duly equipped for the task of exposition and +dissertation. It is open to grave doubt whether any foreigner has ever +attained the requisite proficiency. Leaving Anjiro in Kagoshima to care +for the converts made there, Xavier pushed on to Hirado, where he +baptized a hundred Japanese in a few days. Now we have it on the +authority of Xavier himself that in this Hirado campaign "none of us +knew Japanese." How then did they proceed? "By reciting a semi-Japanese +volume" (a translation made by Anjiro of a treatise from Xavier's pen) +"and by delivering sermons, we brought several over to the Christian +cult." Sermons preached in Portuguese or Latin to a Japanese audience on +the island of Hirado in the year 1550 can scarcely have attracted +intelligent interest. On his first visit to Yamaguchi, Xavier's means of +access to the understanding of his hearers was confined to the +rudimentary knowledge of Japanese which Fernandez had been able to +acquire in 14 months, a period of study which, in modern times, with all +the aids now procurable, would not suffice to carry a student beyond the +margin of the colloquial. No converts were won. The people of Yamaguchi +probably admired the splendid faith and devotion of these over-sea +philosophers, but as for their doctrine, it was unintelligible. In Kioto +the same experience was repeated, with an addition of much physical +hardship. But when the Jesuits returned to Yamaguchi in the early autumn +of 1551, they baptized 500 persons, including several members of the +military class. Still Fernandez with his broken Japanese was the only +medium for communicating the profound doctrines of Christianity. It must +be concluded that the teachings of the missionaries produced much less +effect than the attitude of the local chieftain. + + + Second Period of Christian Propagandism. + +Only two missionaries, Torres and Fernandez, remained in Japan after the +departure of Xavier, but they were soon joined by three others. These +newcomers landed at Kagoshima and found that, in spite of the official +veto against the adoption of Christianity, the feudal chief had lost +nothing of his desire to foster foreign trade. Two years later, all the +Jesuits in Japan were assembled in Bungo. Their only church stood there; +and they had also built two hospitals. Local disturbances had compelled +them to withdraw from Yamaguchi, not, however, before their violent +disputes with the Buddhist priests in that town had induced the +feudatory to proscribe the foreign religion, as had previously been done +in Kagoshima. From Funai, the chief town of Bungo, the Jesuits began in +1579 to send yearly reports to their Generals in Rome. These reports, +known as the _Annual Letters_, comprise some of the most valuable +information available about the conditions then existing in Japan. They +describe a state of abject poverty among the lower orders; poverty so +cruel that the destruction of children by their famishing parents was an +everyday occurrence, and in some instances choice had to be made between +cannibalism and starvation. Such suffering becomes easily intelligible +when the fact is recalled that Japan had been racked by civil war during +more than 200 years, each feudal chief fighting for his own hand, to +save or to extend his territorial possessions. From these _Annual +Letters_ it is possible also to gather a tolerably clear idea of the +course of events during the years immediately subsequent to Xavier's +departure. There was no break in the continuity of the newly inaugurated +foreign trade. Portuguese ships visited Hirado as well as Bungo, and in +those days their masters and crews not only attended scrupulously to +their religious duties, but also showed such profound respect for the +missionaries that the Japanese received constant object lessons in the +influence wielded over the traders by the Jesuits. Thirty years later, +this orderly and reverential demeanour was exchanged for riotous +excesses such as had already made the Portuguese sailor a byword in +China. But in the early days of intercourse with Japan the crews of the +merchant vessels seem to have preached Christianity by their exemplary +conduct. Just as Xavier had been induced to visit Bungo by the anxiety +of a ship-captain for Christian ministrations, so in 1557 two of the +fathers repaired to Hirado in obedience to the solicitations of +Portuguese sailors. There the fathers, under the guidance of Vilela, +sent brothers to parade the streets ringing bells and chaunting +litanies; they organized bands of boys for the same purpose; they caused +the converts, and even children, to flagellate themselves at a model of +Mount Calvary, and they worked miracles, healing the sick by contact +with scourges or with a booklet in which Xavier had written litanies and +prayers. It may well be imagined that such doings attracted surprised +attention in Japan. They were supplemented by even more striking +practices. For a sub-feudatory of the Hirado chief, having been +converted, showed his zeal by destroying Buddhist temples and throwing +down the idols, thus inaugurating a campaign of violence destined to +mark the progress of Christianity throughout the greater part of its +history in Japan. There followed the overthrowing of a cross in the +Christian cemetery, the burning of a temple in the town of Hirado, and a +street riot, the sequel being that the Jesuit fathers were compelled to +return once more to Bungo. It is essential to follow all these events, +for not otherwise can a clear understanding be reached as to the aspects +under which Christianity presented itself originally to the Japanese. +The Portuguese traders, reverent as was their demeanour towards +Christianity, did not allow their commerce to be interrupted by +vicissitudes of propagandism. They still repaired to Hirado, and rumours +of the wealth-begetting effects of their presence having reached the +neighbouring fief of Omura, its chief, Sumitada, made overtures to the +Jesuits in Bungo, offering a port free from all dues for ten years, a +large tract of land, a residence for the missionaries and other +privileges. The Jesuits hastened to take advantage of this proposal, and +no sooner did the news reach Hirado than the feudatory of that island +repented of having expelled the fathers and invited them to return. But +while they hesitated, a Portuguese vessel arrived at Hirado, and the +feudal chief declared publicly that no need existed to conciliate the +missionaries, since trade went on without them. When this became known +in Bungo, Torres hastened to Hirado, was received with extraordinary +honours by the crew of the vessel, and at his instance she left the +port, her master declaring that "he could not remain in a country where +they maltreated those who professed the same religion as himself." +Hirado remained a closed port for some years, but ultimately the advent +of three merchantmen, which intimated their determination not to put in +unless the anti-Christian ban was removed, induced the feudal chief to +receive the Jesuits, once more. This incident was paralleled a few years +later in the island of Amakusa, where a petty feudatory, in order to +attract foreign trade, as the missionaries themselves frankly explain, +embraced Christianity and ordered all his vassals to follow his example; +but when no Portuguese ship appeared, he apostatized, required his +subjects to revert to Buddhism arid made the missionaries withdraw. In +fact, the competition for the patronage of Portuguese traders was so +keen that the Hirado feudatory attempted to burn several of their +vessels because they frequented the territorial waters of his neighbour +and rival, Sumitada. The latter became a most stalwart Christian when +his wish was gratified. He set himself to eradicate idolatry throughout +his fief with the strong arm, and his fierce intolerance provoked +results which ended in the destruction of the Christian town at the +newly opened free port. Sumitada, however, quickly reasserted his +authority, and five years later (1567), he took a step which had +far-reaching consequences, namely, the building of a church at Nagasaki, +in order that Portuguese commerce might have a centre and the Christians +an assured asylum. Nagasaki was then a little fishing village. In five +years it grew to be a town of thirty thousand inhabitants, and Sumitada +became one of the richest of the Kiushiu feudatories. When in 1573 +successful conflicts with the neighbouring fiefs brought him an access +of territory, he declared that he owed these victories to the influence +of the Christian God, and shortly afterwards he publicly proclaimed +banishment for all who would not accept the foreign faith. There were +then no Jesuits by his side, but immediately two hastened to join him, +and "these, accompanied by a strong guard, but yet not without danger of +their lives, went round causing the churches of the Gentiles, with their +idols, to be thrown to the ground, while three Japanese Christians went +preaching the law of God everywhere. Three of us who were in the +neighbouring kingdoms all withdrew therefrom to work in this abundant +harvest, and in the space of seven months twenty thousand persons were +baptized, including the bonzes of about sixty monasteries, except a few +who quitted the State." In Bungo, however, where the Jesuits were +originally so well received, it is doubtful whether Christian +propagandism would not have ended in failure but for an event which +occurred in 1576, namely, the conversion of the chieftain's son, a youth +of some 16 years. Two years later Otomo himself came over to the +Christian faith. He rendered inestimable aid, not merely within his own +fief, but also by the influence he exercised on others. His +intervention, supported by recourse to arms, obtained for the Jesuits a +footing on the island of Amakusa, where one of the feudatories gave his +vassals the choice of conversion or exile, and announced to the Buddhist +priests that unless they accepted Christianity their property would be +confiscated and they themselves banished. Nearly the whole population of +the fief did violence to their conscience for the sake of their homes. +Christianity was then becoming established in Kiushiu by methods similar +to those of Islam and the inquisition. Another notable illustration is +furnished by the story of the Arima fief, adjoining that of Sumitada +(Omura), where such resolute means had been adopted to force +Christianity upon the vassals. Moreover, the heads of the two fiefs were +brothers. Accordingly, at the time of Sumitada's very dramatic +conversion, the Jesuits were invited to Arima and encouraged to form +settlements at the ports of Kuchinotsu and Shimabara, which thenceforth +began to be frequented by Portuguese merchantmen. The fief naturally +became involved in the turmoil resulting from Sumitada's iconoclastic +methods of propagandism; but, in 1576, the then ruling feudatory, +influenced largely by the object lesson of Sumitada's prosperity and +puissance, which that chieftain openly ascribed to the tutelary aid of +the Christian deity, accepted baptism and became the "Prince Andrew" of +missionary records. It is written in those records that "the first thing +Prince Andrew did after his baptism was to convert the chief temple of +his capital into a church, its revenues being assigned for the +maintenance of the building and the support of the missionaries. He then +took measures to have the same thing done in the other towns of his +fief, and he seconded the preachers of the gospel so well in everything +else that he could flatter himself that he soon would not have one +single idolater in his states." Thus in the two years that separated his +baptism from his death, twenty thousand converts were won in Arima. But +his successor was an enemy of the alien creed. He ordered the Jesuits to +quit his dominions, required the converts to return to their ancestral +faith, and caused "the holy places to be destroyed and the crosses to be +thrown down." Nearly one-half of the converts apostatized under this +pressure, but others had recourse to a device of proved potency. They +threatened to leave Kuchinotsu _en masse_, and as that would have +involved the loss of foreign trade, the hostile edict was materially +modified. To this same weapon the Christians owed a still more signal +victory. For just at that time the great ship from Macao, now an annual +visitor, arrived in Japanese waters carrying the visitor-general, +Valegnani. She put into Kuchinotsu, and her presence, with its suggested +eventualities, gave such satisfaction that the feudatory offered to +accept baptism and to sanction its acceptance by his vassals. This did +not satisfy Valegnani, a man of profound political sagacity. He saw that +the fief was menaced by serious dangers at the hands of its neighbours, +and seizing the psychological moment of its extreme peril, he used the +secular arm so adroitly that the fief's chance of survival seemed to be +limited to the unreserved adoption of Christianity. Thus, in 1580, the +chieftain and his wife were baptized; "all the city was made Christian; +they burned their idols and destroyed 40 temples, reserving some +materials to build churches." + +Christian propagandism had now made substantial progress. The _Annual +Letter_ of 1582 recorded that at the close of 1581, thirty-two years +after the landing of Xavier in Japan, there were about 150,000 converts, +of whom some 125,000 were in Kiushiu and the remainder in Yamaguchi, +Kioto and the neighbourhood of the latter city. The Jesuits in the +empire then numbered 75, but down to the year 1563 there had never been +more than 9, and down to 1577, not more than 18. The harvest was +certainly great in proportion to the number of sowers. But it was a +harvest mainly of artificial growth; forced by the despotic insistence +of feudal chiefs who possessed the power of life and death over their +vassals, and were influenced by a desire to attract foreign trade. To +the Buddhist priests this movement of Christian propagandism had brought +an experience hitherto unknown to them, persecution on account of creed. +They had suffered for interfering in politics, but the fierce cruelty of +the Christian fanatic now became known for the first time to men +themselves conspicuous for tolerance of heresy and receptivity of +instruction. They had had no previous experience of humanity in the garb +of an Otomo of Bungo, who, in the words of Crasset, "went to the chase +of the bonzes as to that of wild beasts, and made it his singular +pleasure to exterminate them from his states." + + + First Japanese Embassy to Europe. + +In 1582 the first Japanese envoys sailed from Nagasaki for Europe. The +embassy consisted of four youths, the oldest not more than 16, +representing the fiefs of Arima, Omura and Bungo. They visited Lisbon, +Madrid and Rome, and in all these cities they were received with +displays of magnificence such as 16th century Europe delighted to make. +That, indeed, had been the motive of Valegnani in organizing the +mission: he desired to let the Japanese see with their own eyes how +great were the riches and might of Western states. + + + Second Visit of Jesuits to Kioto. + +In the above statistics of converts at the close of 1581 mention is made +of Christians in Kioto, though we have already seen that the visit by +Xavier and Fernandez to that city was wholly barren of results. A second +visit, however, made by Vilela in 1559, proved more successful. He +carried letters of recommendation from the Bungo chieftain, and the +proximate cause of his journey was an invitation from a Buddhist priest +in the celebrated monastery of Hiei-zan, who sought information about +Christianity. This was before the razing of temples and the overthrow of +idols had commenced in Kiushiu. On arrival at Hiei-zan, Vilela found +that the Buddhist prior who had invited him was dead and that only a +portion of the old man's authority had descended to his successor. +Nevertheless the Jesuit obtained an opportunity to expound his doctrines +to a party of bonzes at the monastery. Subsequently, through the good +offices of a priest, described as "one of the most respected men in the +city," and with the assistance of the Bungo feudatory's letter, Vilela +enjoyed the rare honour of being received by the shogun in Kioto, who +treated him with all consideration and assigned a house for his +residence. It may be imagined that, owing such a debt of gratitude to +Buddhist priests, Vilela would have behaved towards them and their creed +with courtesy. But the Jesuit fathers were proof against all influences +calculated to impair their stern sense of duty. Speaking through the +mouth of a Japanese convert, Vilela attacked the bonzes in unmeasured +terms and denounced their faith. Soon the bonzes, on their side, were +seeking the destruction of these uncompromising assailants with +insistence inferior only to that which the Jesuits themselves would have +shown in similar circumstances. Against these perils Vilela was +protected by the goodwill of the shogun, who had already issued a decree +threatening with death any one who injured the missionaries or +obstructed their work. In spite of all difficulties and dangers these +wonderful missionaries, whose courage, zeal and devotion are beyond all +eulogy, toiled on resolutely and even recklessly, and such success +attended their efforts that by 1564 many converts had been won and +churches had been established in five walled towns within a distance of +50 miles from Kioto. Among the converts were two Buddhist priests, +notoriously hostile at the outset, who had been nominated as official +commissioners to investigate and report upon the doctrine of +Christianity. The first conversion _en masse_ was due to pressure from +above. A petty feudatory, Takayama, whose fief lay at Takatsuki in the +neighbourhood of the capital, challenged Vilela to a public controversy, +the result of which was that the Japanese acknowledged himself +vanquished, embraced Christianity and invited his vassals as well as his +family to follow his example. This man's son--Takayama Yusho--proved one +of the stanchest supporters of Christianity in all Japan, and has been +immortalized by the Jesuits under the name of Don Justo Ucondono. +Incidentally this event furnishes an index to the character of the +Japanese samurai: he accepted the consequences of defeat as frankly as +he dared it. In the same year (1564) the feudatory of Sawa, a brother of +Takayama, became a Christian and imposed the faith on all his vassals, +just as Sumitada and other feudal chiefs had done in Kiushiu. But the +Kioto record differs from that of Kiushiu in one important respect--the +former is free from any intrusion of commercial motives. + + + Nobunaga and the Jesuits. + +Kioto was at that time the scene of sanguinary tumults, which culminated +in the murder of the shogun (1565), and led to the issue of a decree by +the emperor proscribing Christianity. In Japanese medieval history this +is one of the only two instances of Imperial interference with Christian +propagandism. There is evidence that the edict was obtained at the +instance of one of the shogun's assassins and certain Buddhist priests. +The Jesuits--their number had been increased to three--were obliged to +take refuge in Sakai, now little more than a suburb of Osaka, but at +that time a great and wealthy mart, and the only town in Japan which did +not acknowledge the sway of any feudal chief. Three years later they +were summoned thence to be presented to Oda Nobunaga, one of the +greatest captains Japan has ever produced. In the very year of Xavier's +landing at Kagoshima, Nobunaga had succeeded to his father's fief, a +comparatively petty estate in the province of Owari. In 1568 he was +seated in Kioto, a maker of shoguns and acknowledged ruler of 30 among +the 66 provinces of Japan. Had Nobunaga, wielding such immense power, +adopted a hostile attitude towards Christianity, the fires lit by the +Jesuits in Japan must soon have been extinguished. Nobunaga, however, to +great breadth and liberality of view added strong animosity towards +Buddhist priests. Many of the great monasteries had become armed camps, +their inmates skilled equally in field-attacks and in the defence of +ramparts. One sect (the Nichiren), which was specially affected by the +samurai, had lent powerful aid to the murderers of the shogun three +years before Nobunaga's victories carried him to Kioto, and the armed +monasteries constituted _imperia in imperio_ which assorted ill with his +ambition of complete supremacy. He therefore welcomed Christianity for +the sake of its opposition to Buddhism, and when Takayama conducted +Froez from Sakai to Nobunaga's presence, the reception accorded to the +Jesuit was of the most cordial character. Throughout the fourteen years +of life that remained to him, Nobunaga continued to be the constant +friend of the missionaries in particular and of foreigners visiting +Japan in general. He stood between the Jesuits and the Throne when, in +reply to an appeal from the Buddhist priests, the emperor, for the +second time, issued an anti-Christian decree (1568); he granted a site +for a church and residence at Azuchi on Lake Biwa, where his new +fortress stood; he addressed to various powerful feudatories letters +signifying a desire for the spread of Christianity; he frequently made +handsome presents to the fathers, and whenever they visited him he +showed a degree of accessibility and graciousness very foreign to his +usually haughty and imperious demeanour. The Jesuits themselves said of +him: "This man seems to have been chosen by God to open and prepare the +way for our faith." Nevertheless they do not appear to have entertained +much hope at any time of converting Nobunaga. They must have understood +that their doctrines had not made any profound impression on a man who +could treat them as this potentate did in 1579, when he plainly showed +that political exigencies might at any moment induce him to sacrifice +them.[30] His last act, too, proved that sacrilege was of no account in +his eyes, for he took steps to have himself apotheosized at Azuchi with +the utmost pomp and circumstance. Still nothing can obscure the benefits +he heaped upon the propagandists of Christianity. + + + Hideyshi and the Christians. + +The terrible tumult of domestic war through which Japan passed in the +15th and 16th centuries brought to her service three of the greatest men +ever produced in Occident or Orient. They were Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi +Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Iyeyasu. Hideyoshi, as Nobunaga's lieutenant, +contributed largely to the building of the latter's fortunes, and, +succeeding him in 1582, brought the whole 66 provinces of the empire +under his own administrative sway. For the Jesuits now the absorbing +question was, what attitude Hideyoshi would assume towards their +propagandism. His power was virtually limitless. With a word he could +have overthrown the whole edifice created by them at the cost of so much +splendid effort and noble devotion. They were very quickly reassured. In +this matter Hideyoshi walked in Nobunaga's footsteps. He not only +accorded a friendly audience to Father Organtino, who waited on him as +representative of the Jesuits, but also he went in person to assign to +the company a site for a church and a residence in Osaka, where there +was presently to rise the most massive fortress ever built in the East. +At that time many Christian converts were serving in high positions, and +in 1584 the Jesuits placed it on record that "Hideyoshi was not only not +opposed to the things of God, but he even showed that he made much +account of them and preferred them to all the sects of the bonzes.... He +is entrusting to Christians his treasures, his secrets and his +fortresses of most importance, and shows himself well pleased that the +sons of the great lords about him should adopt our customs and our law." +Two years later in Osaka he received with every mark of cordiality and +favour a Jesuit mission which had come from Nagasaki seeking audience, +and on that occasion his visitor recorded that he spoke of an intention +of christianizing one half of Japan. Nor did Hideyoshi confine himself +to words. He actually signed a patent licensing the missionaries to +preach throughout all Japan, and exempting not only their houses and +churches from the billeting of soldiers but also the priests themselves +from local burdens. This was in 1586, on the eve of Hideyoshi's greatest +military enterprise, the invasion of Kiushiu and its complete reduction. +He carried that difficult campaign to completion by the middle of 1587, +and throughout its course he maintained a uniformly friendly demeanour +towards the Jesuits. But suddenly, when on the return journey he reached +Hakata in the north of the island, his policy underwent a radical +metamorphosis. Five questions were by his order propounded to the +vice-provincial of the Jesuits: "Why and by what authority he and his +fellow-propagandists had constrained Japanese subjects to become +Christians? Why they had induced their disciples and their sectaries to +overthrow temples? Why they persecuted the bonzes? Why they and other +Portuguese ate animals useful to men, such as oxen and cows? Why the +vice-provincial allowed merchants of his nation to buy Japanese to make +slaves of them in the Indies?" To these queries Coelho, the +vice-provincial, made answer that the missionaries had never themselves +resorted, or incited, to violence in their propagandism or persecuted +bonzes; that if their eating of beef were considered inadvisable, they +would give up the practice; and that they were powerless to prevent or +restrain the outrages perpetrated by their countrymen. Hideyoshi read +the vice-provincial's reply and, without comment, sent him word to +retire to Hirado, assemble all his followers there, and quit the country +within six months. On the next day (July 25, 1587) the following edict +was published:-- + + "Having learned from our faithful councillors that foreign priests + have come into our estates, where they preach a law contrary to that + of Japan, and that they even had the audacity to destroy temples + dedicated to our Kami and Hotoke; although the outrage merits the most + extreme punishment, wishing nevertheless to show them mercy, we order + them under pain of death to quit Japan within twenty days. During that + space no harm or hurt will be done to them. But at the expiration of + that term, we order that if any of them be found in our states, they + should be seized and punished as the greatest criminals. As for the + Portuguese merchants, we permit them to enter our ports, there to + continue their accustomed trade, and to remain in our states provided + our affairs need this. But we forbid them to bring any foreign priests + into the country, under the penalty of the confiscation of their ships + and goods." + +How are we to account for this apparently rapid change of mood on the +part of Hideyoshi? Some historians insist that from the very outset he +conceived the resolve of suppressing Christianity and expelling its +propagandists, but that he concealed his design pending the subjugation +of Kiushiu, lest, by premature action, he might weaken his hand for that +enterprise. This hypothesis rests mainly on conjecture. Its formulators +found it easier to believe in a hidden purpose than to attribute to a +statesman so shrewd and far-seeing a sudden change of mind. A more +reasonable theory is that, shortly before leaving Osaka for Kiushiu, +Hideyoshi began to entertain doubts as to the expediency of tolerating +Christian propagandism, and that his doubts were signally strengthened +by direct observation of the state of affairs in Kiushiu. While still in +Osaka, he one day remarked publicly that "he feared much that all the +virtue of the European priests served only to conceal pernicious designs +against the empire." There had been no demolishing of temples or +overthrowing of images at Christian instance in the metropolitan +provinces. In Kiushiu, however, very different conditions prevailed. +There Christianity may be said to have been preached at the point of the +sword. Temples and images had been destroyed wholesale; vassals in +thousands had been compelled to embrace the foreign faith; and the +missionaries themselves had come to be treated as demi-gods whose nod +was worth conciliating at any cost of self-abasement. Brought into +direct contact with these evidences of the growth of a new power, +temporal as well as spiritual, Hideyoshi may well have reached the +conclusion that a choice had to be finally made between his own +supremacy and that of the alien creed, if not between the independence +of Japan and the yoke of the great Christian states of Europe. + + + Sequel of the Edict of Banishment. + +Hideyoshi gauged the character of the medieval Christians with +sufficient accuracy to know that for the sake of their faith they would +at any time defy the laws of the island. His estimate received immediate +verification, for when the Jesuits, numbering 120, assembled at Hirado +and received his order to embark at once they decided that only those +should sail whose services were needed in China. The others remained and +went about their duties as usual, under the protection of the converted +feudatories. Hideyoshi, however, saw reason to wink at this disregard of +his authority. At first he showed uncompromising resolution. All the +churches in Kioto, Osaka and Sakai were demolished, while troops were +sent to raze the Christian places of worship in Kiushiu and seize the +port of Nagasaki. These troops were munificently dissuaded from their +purpose by the Christian feudatories. But Hideyoshi did not protest, and +in 1588 he allowed himself to be convinced by a Portuguese envoy that in +the absence of missionaries foreign trade must cease, since without the +intervention of the fathers peace and good order could not be maintained +among the merchants. Rather than suffer the trade to be interrupted +Hideyoshi agreed to the coming of priests, and thenceforth, during some +years, Christianity not only continued to flourish and grow in Kiushiu +but also found a favourable field of operations in Kioto itself. Care +was taken that Hideyoshi's attention should not be attracted by any +salient evidences of what he had called a "diabolical religion," and +thus for a time all went well. There is evidence that, like the feudal +chiefs in Kiushiu, Hideyoshi set great store by foreign trade and would +even have sacrificed to its maintenance and expansion something of the +aversion he had conceived for Christianity. He did indeed make one very +large concession. For on being assured that Portuguese traders could not +frequent Japan unless they found Christian priests there to minister to +them, he consented to sanction the presence of a limited number of +Jesuits. The statistics of 1595 show how Christianity fared under even +this partial tolerance, for there were then 137 Jesuits in Japan with +300,000 converts, among whom were 17 feudal chiefs, to say nothing of +many men of lesser though still considerable note, and even not a few +bonzes. + + + Hideyoshi's Final Attitude towards Christianity. + +For ten years after his unlooked-for order of expulsion, Hideyoshi +preserved a tolerant mien. But in 1597 his forbearance gave place to a +mood of uncompromising severity. The reasons of this second change are +very clear, though diverse accounts have been transmitted. Up to 1593 +the Portuguese had possessed a monopoly of religious propagandism and +over-sea commerce in Japan. The privilege was secured to them by +agreement between Spain and Portugal and by a papal bull. But the +Spaniards in Manila had long looked with somewhat jealous eyes on this +Jesuit reservation, and when news of the disaster of 1587 reached the +Philippines, the Dominicans and Franciscans residing there were fired +with zeal to enter an arena where the crown of martyrdom seemed to be +the least reward within reach. The papal bull, however, demanded +obedience, and to overcome that difficulty a ruse was necessary: the +governor of Manila agreed to send a party of Franciscans as ambassadors +to Hideyoshi. In that guise the friars, being neither traders nor +propagandists, considered that they did not violate either the treaty or +the bull. It was a technical subterfuge very unworthy of the object +contemplated, and the friars supplemented it by swearing to Hideyoshi +that the Philippines would submit to his sway. Thus they obtained +permission to visit Kioto, Osaka and Fushimi, but with the explicit +proviso that they must not preach. Very soon they had built a church in +Kioto, consecrated it with the utmost pomp, and were preaching sermons +and chaunting litanies there in flagrant defiance of Hideyoshi's veto. +Presently their number received an access of three friars who came +bearing gifts from the governor at Manila, and now they not only +established a convent in Osaka, but also seized a Jesuit church in +Nagasaki and converted the circumspect worship hitherto conducted there +by the fathers into services of the most public character. Officially +checked in Nagasaki, they charged the Jesuits in Kioto with having +intrigued to impede them, and they further vaunted the courageous +openness of their own ministrations as compared with the clandestine +timidity of the methods which wise prudence had induced the Jesuits to +adopt. Retribution would have followed quickly had not Hideyoshi's +attention been engrossed by an attempt to invade China through Korea. At +this stage, however, a memorable incident occurred. Driven out of her +course by a storm, a great and richly laden Spanish galleon, bound for +Acapulco from Manila, drifted to the coast of Tosa province, and +running--or being purposely run--on a sand-bank as she was being towed +into port by Japanese boats, broke her back. She carried goods to the +value of some 600,000 crowns, and certain officials urged Hideyoshi to +confiscate her as derelict, conveying to him at the same time a detailed +account of the doings of the Franciscans and their open flouting of his +orders. Hideyoshi, much incensed, commanded the arrest of the +Franciscans and despatched officers to Tosa to confiscate the "San +Felipe." The pilot of the galleon sought to intimidate these officers by +showing them on a map of the world the vast extent of Spain's dominions, +and being asked how one country had acquired such extended sway, +replied: "Our kings begin by sending into the countries they wish to +conquer missionaries who induce the people to embrace our religion, and +when they have made considerable progress, troops are sent who combine +with the new Christians, and then our kings have not much trouble in +accomplishing the rest." + + + The First Execution of Christians. + +On learning of this speech Hideyoshi was overcome with fury. He +condemned the Franciscans to have their noses and ears cut off, to be +promenaded through Kioto, Osaka and Sakai, and to be crucified at +Nagasaki. "I have ordered these foreigners to be treated thus, because +they have come from the Philippines to Japan, calling themselves +ambassadors, although they were not so; because they have remained here +far too long without my permission; because, in defiance of my +prohibition, they have built churches, preached their religion and +caused disorders." Twenty-six suffered under this sentence--six +Franciscans, three Japanese Jesuits and seventeen native Christians, +chiefly domestic servants of the Franciscans.[31] They met their fate +with noble fortitude. Hideyoshi further issued a special injunction +against the adoption of Christianity by a feudal chief, and took steps +to give practical effect to his expulsion edict of 1587. The governor of +Nagasaki received instructions to send away all the Jesuits, permitting +only two or three to remain for the service of the Portuguese merchants. +But the Jesuits were not the kind of men who, to escape personal peril, +turn their back upon an unaccomplished work of grace. There were 125 of +them in Japan at that time. In October 1597 a junk sailed out of +Nagasaki harbour, her decks crowded with seeming Jesuits. In reality she +carried 11 of the company, the apparent Jesuits being disguised sailors. +It is not to be supposed that such a manoeuvre could be hidden from the +local authorities. They winked at it, until rumour became insistent that +Hideyoshi was about to visit Kiushiu in person, and all Japanese in +administrative posts knew how Hideyoshi visited disobedience and how +hopeless was any attempt to deceive him. Therefore, early in 1598, +really drastic steps were taken. Churches to the number of 137 were +demolished in Kiushiu, seminaries and residences fell, and the governor +of Nagasaki assembled there all the fathers of the company for +deportation to Macao by the great ship in the following year. But while +they waited, Hideyoshi died. It is not on record that the Jesuits openly +declared his removal from the earth to have been a special dispensation +in their favour. But they pronounced him an execrable tyrant and +consigned his "soul to hell for all eternity." Yet no impartial reader +of history can pretend to think that a 16th-century Jesuit general in +Hideyoshi's place would have shown towards an alien creed and its +propagandists even a small measure of the tolerance exercised by the +Japanese statesman towards Christianity and the Jesuits. + + + Foreign Policy of the Tokugawa Rulers. + +Hideyoshi's death occurred in 1598. Two years later, his authority as +administrative ruler of all Japan had passed into the hands of Iyeyasu, +the Tokugawa chief, and thirty-nine years later the Tokugawa potentates +had not only exterminated Christianity in Japan but had also condemned +their country to a period of international isolation which continued +unbroken until 1853, an interval of 214 years. It has been shown that +even when they were most incensed against Christianity, Japanese +administrators sought to foster and preserve foreign trade. Why then did +they close the country's doors to the outside world and suspend a +commerce once so much esteemed? To answer that question some retrospect +is needed. Certain historians allege that from the outset Iyeyasu shared +Hideyoshi's misgivings about the real designs of Christian potentates +and Christian propagandists. But that verdict is not supported by facts. +The first occasion of the Tokugawa chief's recorded contact with a +Christian propagandist was less than three months after Hideyoshi's +death. There was then led into his presence a Franciscan, by name Jerome +de Jesus, originally a member of the fictitious embassy from Manila. +This man's conduct constitutes an example of the invincible zeal and +courage inspiring a Christian priest in those days. Barely escaping the +doom of crucifixion which overtook his companions, he had been deported +from Japan to Manila at a time when death seemed to be the certain +penalty of remaining. But no sooner had he been landed at Manila than he +took passage in a Chinese junk, and, returning to Nagasaki, made his way +secretly from the far south of Japan to the province of Kii. There +arrested, he was brought into the presence of Iyeyasu, and his own +record of what ensued is given in a letter subsequently sent to +Manila:-- + + "When the Prince saw me he asked how I had managed to escape the + previous persecution. I answered him that at that date God had + delivered me in order that I might go to Manila and bring back new + colleagues from there--preachers of the divine law--and that I had + returned from Manila to encourage the Christians, cherishing the + desire to die on the cross in order to go to enjoy eternal glory like + my former colleagues. On hearing these words the Emperor began to + smile, whether in his quality of a pagan of the sect of Shaka, which + teaches that there is no future life, or whether from the thought that + I was frightened at having to be put to death. Then, looking at me + kindly, he said, 'Be no longer afraid and no longer conceal yourself, + and no longer change your habit, for I wish you well; and as for the + Christians who every year pass within sight of the Kwanto where my + domains are, when they go to Mexico with their ships, I have a keen + desire for them to visit the harbours of this island, to refresh + themselves there, and to take what they wish, to trade with my vassals + and to teach them how to develop silver mines; and that my intentions + may be accomplished before my death, I wish you to indicate to me the + means to take to realize them.' I answered that it was necessary that + Spanish pilots should take the soundings of his harbours, so that + ships might not be lost in future as the 'San Felipe' had been, and + that he should solicit this service from the governor of the + Philippines. The Prince approved of my advice, and accordingly he has + sent a Japanese gentleman, a native of Sakai, the bearer of this + message.... It is essential to oppose no obstacle to the complete + liberty offered by the Emperor to the Spaniards and to our holy order, + for the preaching of the holy gospel.... The same Prince (who is about + to visit the Kwanto) invites me to accompany him to make choice of a + house, and to visit the harbour which he promises to open to us; his + desires in this respect are keener than I can express." + +The above version of the Tokugawa chief's mood is confirmed by events, +for not only did he allow the contumelious Franciscan to build a +church--the first--in Yedo and to celebrate Mass there, but also he sent +three embassies to the Philippines, proposing reciprocal freedom of +commerce, offering to open ports in the Kwanto and asking for competent +naval architects. He never obtained the architects, and though the trade +came, its volume was small in comparison with the abundance of friars +that accompanied it. There is just a possibility that Iyeyasu saw in +these Spanish monks an instrument of counteracting the influence of the +Jesuits, for he must have known that the Franciscans opened their +mission in Yedo by "declaiming with violence against the fathers of the +company of Jesus." In short, the Spanish monks assumed towards the +Jesuits in Japan the same intolerant and abusive tone that the Jesuits +themselves had previously assumed towards Buddhism. + +At that time there appeared upon the scene another factor destined +greatly to complicate events. It was a Dutch merchant ship, the +"Liefde." Until the Netherlands revolted from Spain, the Dutch had been +the principal distributors of all goods arriving at Lisbon from the Far +East; but in 1594 Philip II. closed the port of Lisbon to these rebels, +and the Dutch met the situation by turning their prows to the Orient to +invade the sources of Portuguese commerce. One of the first expeditions +despatched for that purpose set out in 1598, and of the five vessels +composing it one only was ever heard of again. This was the "Liefde." +She reached Japan during the spring of 1600, with only four-and-twenty +alive out of her original crew of 110. Towed into the harbour at Funai, +the "Liefde" was visited by Jesuits, who, on discovering her +nationality, denounced her to the local authorities as a pirate and +endeavoured to incense the Japanese against them. The "Liefde" had on +board in the capacity of "pilot major" an Englishman, Will Adams of +Gillingham in Kent, whom Iyeyasu summoned to Osaka, where there +commenced between the rough British sailor and the Tokugawa chief a +curiously friendly intercourse which was not interrupted until the death +of Adams twenty years later. The Englishman became master ship-builder +to the Yedo government; was employed as diplomatic agent when other +traders from his own country and from Holland arrived in Japan, +received in perpetual gift a substantial estate, and from first to last +possessed the implicit confidence of the shogun. Iyeyasu quickly +discerned the man's honesty, perceived that whatever benefits foreign +commerce might confer would be increased by encouraging competition +among the foreigners, and realized that English and Dutch trade +presented the wholesome feature of complete dissociation from religious +propagandism. On the other hand, he showed no intolerance to either +Spaniards or Portuguese. He issued (1601) two official patents +sanctioning the residence of the fathers in Kioto, Osaka and Nagasaki; +he employed Father Rodriguez as interpreter to the court at Yedo; and in +1603 he gave munificent succour to the Jesuits who were reduced to dire +straits owing to the capture of the great ship from Macao by the Dutch +and the consequent loss of several years' supplies for the mission in +Japan. + +It is thus seen that each of the great trio of Japan's 16th-century +statesmen--Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Iyeyasu--adopted at the outset a most +tolerant demeanour towards Christianity. The reasons of Hideyoshi's +change of mood have been set forth. We have now to examine the reasons +that produced a similar metamorphosis in the case of Iyeyasu. Two causes +present themselves immediately. The first is that, while tolerating +Christianity, Iyeyasu did not approve of it as a creed; the second, that +he himself, whether from state policy or genuine piety, strongly +encouraged Buddhism. Proof of the former proposition is found in an +order issued by him in 1602 to insure the safety of foreign merchantmen +entering Japanese ports: it concluded with the reservation, "but we +rigorously forbid them" (foreigners coming in such ships) "to promulgate +their faith." Proof of the latter is furnished by the facts that he +invariably carried about with him a miniature Buddhist image which he +regarded as his tutelary deity, and that he fostered the creed of Shaka +as zealously as Oda Nobunaga had suppressed it. There is much difficulty +in tracing the exact sequence of events which gradually educated a +strong antipathy to the Christian faith in the mind of the Tokugawa +chief. He must have been influenced in some degree by the views of his +great predecessor, Hideyoshi. But he did not accept those views +implicitly. At the end of the 16th century he sent a trusted emissary to +Europe for the purpose of directly observing the conditions in the home +of Christianity, and this man, the better to achieve his aim, embraced +the foreign faith, and studied it from within as well as from without. +The story that he had to tell on his return could not fail to shock the +ruler of a country where freedom of conscience had existed from time +immemorial. It was a story of the inquisition and of the stake; of +unlimited aggression in the name of the cross; of the pope's +overlordship which entitled him to confiscate the realm of heretical +sovereigns; of religious wars and of well-nigh incredible fanaticism. +Iyeyasu must have received an evil impression while he listened to his +emissary's statements. Under his own eyes, too, were abundant evidences +of the spirit of strife that Christian dogma engendered in those times. +From the moment when the Franciscans and Dominicans arrived in Japan, a +fierce quarrel began between them and the Jesuits; a quarrel which even +community of suffering could not compose. Not less repellent was an +attempt on the part of the Spaniards to dictate to Iyeyasu the expulsion +of all Hollanders from Japan, and on the part of the Jesuits to dictate +the expulsion of the Spaniards. The former proposal, couched almost in +the form of a demand, was twice formulated, and accompanied on the +second occasion by a scarcely less insulting offer, namely, that Spanish +men-of-war would be sent to Japan to burn all Dutch ships found in the +ports of the empire. If in the face of proposals so contumelious of his +sovereign authority Iyeyasu preserved a calm and dignified mien, merely +replying that his country was open to all comers, and that, if other +nations had quarrels among themselves, they must not take Japan for +battle-ground, it is nevertheless unimaginable that he did not strongly +resent such interference with his own independent foreign policy, and +that he did not interpret it as foreshadowing a disturbance of the +realm's peace by sectarian quarrels among Christians. These +experiences, predisposing Iyeyasu to dislike Christianity as a creed and +to distrust it as a political influence, were soon supplemented by +incidents of an immediately determinative character. The first was an +act of fraud and forgery committed in the interests of a Christian +feudatory by a trusted official, himself a Christian. Thereupon Iyeyasu, +conceiving it unsafe that Christians should fill offices at his court, +dismissed all those so employed, banished them from Yedo and forbade any +feudal chief to harbour them. The second incident was an attempted +survey of the coast of Japan by a Spanish mariner and a Franciscan +friar. Permission to take this step had been obtained by an envoy from +New Spain, but no deep consideration of reasons seems to have preluded +the permission on Japan's side, and when the mariner (Sebastian) and the +friar (Sotelo) hastened to carry out the project, Iyeyasu asked Will +Adams to explain this display of industry. The Englishman replied that +such a proceeding would be regarded in Europe as an act of hostility, +especially on the part of the Spaniards or Portuguese, whose aggressions +were notorious. He added, in reply to further questions, that "the Roman +priesthood had been expelled from many parts of Germany, from Sweden, +Norway, Denmark, Holland and England, and that although his own country +preserved the pure form of the Christian faith from which Spain and +Portugal had deviated, yet neither English nor Dutch considered that +that fact afforded them any reason to war with, or to annex, States +which were not Christian solely for the reason that they were +non-Christian." Iyeyasu reposed entire confidence in Adams. Hearing the +Englishman's testimony, he is said to have exclaimed, "If the sovereigns +of Europe do not tolerate these priests, I do them no wrong if I refuse +to tolerate them." Japanese historians add that Iyeyasu discovered a +conspiracy on the part of some Japanese Christians to overthrow his +government by the aid of foreign troops. It was not a widely ramified +plot, but it lent additional importance to the fact that the sympathy of +the fathers and their converts was plainly with the only magnate in the +empire who continued to dispute the Tokugawa supremacy, Hideyori, the +son of Hideyoshi. Nevertheless Iyeyasu shrank from proceeding to +extremities in the case of any foreign priest, and this attitude he +maintained until his death (1616). Possibly he might have been not less +tolerant towards native Christians also had not the Tokugawa authority +been openly defied by a Franciscan father--the Sotelo mentioned +above--in Yedo itself. Then (1613) the first execution of Japanese +converts took place, though the monk himself was released after a short +incarceration. At that time, as is still the case even in these more +enlightened days, insignificant differences of custom sometimes induced +serious misconceptions. A Christian who had violated the secular law was +crucified in Nagasaki. Many of his fellow-believers kneeled around his +cross and prayed for the peace of his soul. A party of converts were +afterwards burned to death in the same place for refusing to apostatize, +and their Christian friends crowded to carry off portions of their +bodies as holy relics. When these things were reported to Iyeyasu, he +said, "Without doubt that must be a diabolic faith which persuades +people not only to worship criminals condemned to death for their +crimes, but also to honour those who have been burned or cut in pieces +by the order of their lord" (feudal chief). + + + Suppression of Christianity. + +The fateful edict ordering that all foreign priests should be collected +in Nagasaki preparatory to removal from Japan, that all churches should +be demolished, and that the converts should be compelled to abjure +Christianity, was issued on the 27th of January 1614. There were then in +Japan 122 Jesuits, 14 Franciscans, 9 Dominicans, 4 Augustins and 7 +secular priests. Had these men obeyed the orders of the Japanese +authorities by leaving the country finally, not one foreigner would have +suffered for his faith in Japan, except the 6 Franciscans executed at +Nagasaki by order of Hideyoshi in 1597. But suffering and death counted +for nothing with the missionaries as against the possibility of winning +or keeping even one convert. Forty-seven of them evaded the edict, some +by concealing themselves at the time of its issue, the rest by leaving +their ships when the latter had passed out of sight of the shore of +Japan, and returning by boats to the scene of their former labours. +Moreover, in a few months, those that had actually crossed the sea +re-crossed it in various disguises, and soon the Japanese government had +to consider whether it would suffer its authority to be thus flouted or +resort to extreme measures. + +During two years immediately following the issue of the anti-Christian +decree, the attention of the Tokugawa chief and indeed of all Japan was +concentrated on the closing episode of the great struggle which assured +to Iyeyasu final supremacy as administrative ruler of the empire. That +episode was a terrible battle under the walls of Osaka castle between +the adherents of the Tokugawa and the supporters of Hideyori. In this +struggle fresh fuel was added to the fire of anti-Christian resentment, +for many Christian converts threw in their lot with Hideyori, and in one +part of the field the Tokugawa troops found themselves fighting against +a foe whose banners were emblazoned with the cross and with images of +the Saviour and St James, the patron saint of Spain. But the Christians +had protectors. Many of the feudatories showed themselves strongly +averse from inflicting the extreme penalty on men and women whose +adoption of an alien religion had been partly forced by the feudatories +themselves. As for the people at large, their liberal spirit is attested +by the fact that five fathers who were in Osaka castle at the time of +its capture made their way to distant refuges without encountering any +risk of betrayal. During these events the death of Iyeyasu took place +(June 1, 1616), and pending the dedication of his mausoleum the +anti-Christian crusade was virtually suspended. + +In September 1616 a new anti-Christian edict was promulgated by +Hidetada, son and successor of Iyeyasu. It pronounced sentence of exile +against all Christian priests, including even those whose presence had +been sanctioned for ministering to the Portuguese merchants: it forbade +the Japanese, under the penalty of being burned alive and of having all +their property confiscated, to have any connexion with the ministers of +religion or to give them hospitality. It was forbidden to any prince or +lord to keep Christians in his service or even on his estates, and the +edict was promulgated with more than usual solemnity, though its +enforcement was deferred until the next year on account of the obsequies +of Iyeyasu. This edict of 1616 differed from that issued by Iyeyasu in +1614, since the latter did not prescribe the death penalty for converts +refusing to apostatize. But both agreed in indicating expulsion as the +sole manner of dealing with the foreign priests. As for the shogun and +his advisers, it is reasonable to assume that they did not anticipate +much necessity for recourse to violence. They must have known that a +great majority of the converts had joined the Christian church at the +instance or by the command of their local rulers, and nothing can have +seemed less likely than that a creed thus lightly embraced would be +adhered to in defiance of torture and death. It is moreover morally +certain that had the foreign propagandists obeyed the Government's edict +and left the country, not one would have been put to death. They +suffered because they defied the laws of the land. Some fifty +missionaries happened to be in Nagasaki when Hidetada's edict was +issued. A number of these were apprehended and deported, but several of +them returned almost immediately. This happened under the jurisdiction +of Omura, who had been specially charged with the duty of sending away +the _bateren_ (_padres_). He appears to have concluded that a striking +example must be furnished, and he therefore ordered the seizure and +decapitation of two fathers, De l'Assumpcion and Machado. The result +completely falsified his calculations, and presaged the cruel struggle +now destined to begin. + + The bodies, placed in different coffins, were interred in the same + grave. Guards were placed over it, but the concourse was immense. The + sick were carried to the sepulchre to be restored to health. The + Christians found new strength in this martyrdom; the pagans themselves + were full of admiration for it. Numerous conversions and numerous + returns of apostates took place everywhere. + + +In the midst of all this, Navarette, the vice-provincial of the +Dominicans, and Ayala, the vice-provincial of the Augustins, came out of +their retreat, and in full priestly garb started upon an open +propaganda. The two fanatics--for so even Charlevoix considers them to +have been--were secretly conveyed to the island Takashima and there +decapitated, while their coffins were weighted with big stones and sunk +in the sea. Even more directly defiant was the attitude of the next +martyred priest, an old Franciscan monk, Juan de Santa Martha. He had +for three years suffered all the horrors of a medieval Japanese prison, +when it was proposed to release him and deport him to New Spain. His +answer was that, if released, he would stay in Japan and preach there. +He laid his head on the block in August 1618. But from that time until +1622 no other foreign missionary suffered capital punishment in Japan, +though many of them arrived in the country and continued their +propagandism there. During that interval, also, there occurred another +incident eminently calculated to fix upon the Christians still deeper +suspicion of political designs. In a Portuguese ship captured by the +Dutch a letter was found instigating the Japanese converts to revolt, +and promising that, when the number of these disaffected Christians was +sufficient, men-of-war would be sent to aid them. Not the least potent +of the influences operating against the Christians was that pamphlets +were written by apostates attributing the zeal of the foreign +propagandists solely to political motives. Yet another indictment of +Spanish and Portuguese propagandists was contained in a despatch +addressed to Hidetada in 1620 by the admiral in command of the British +and Dutch fleet then cruising in Far-Eastern waters. In that document +the friars were flatly accused of treacherous practices, and the +Japanese ruler was warned against the aggressive designs of Philip of +Spain. In the face of all this evidence the Japanese ceased to hesitate, +and a time of terror ensued for the fathers and their converts. The +measures adopted towards the missionaries gradually increased in +severity. In 1617 the first two fathers put to death (De l'Assumpcion +and Machado) were beheaded, "not by the common executioner, but by one +of the first officers of the prince." Subsequently Navarette and Ayala +were decapitated by the executioner. Then, in 1618, Juan de Santa Martha +was executed like a common criminal, his body being dismembered and his +head exposed. Finally, in 1622, Zuñiga and Flores were burnt alive. The +same year was marked by the "great martyrdom" at Nagasaki when 9 foreign +priests went to the stake with 19 Japanese converts. The shogun seems to +have been now labouring under vivid fear of a foreign invasion. An +emissary sent by him to Europe had returned on the eve of the "great +martyrdom" after seven years abroad, and had made a report more than +ever unfavourable to Christianity. Therefore Hidetada deemed it +necessary to refuse audience to a Philippine embassy in 1624 and to +deport all Spaniards from Japan. Further, it was decreed that no +Japanese Christian should thenceforth be suffered to go abroad for +commerce, and that though non-Christians or men who had apostatized +might travel freely, they must not visit the Philippines. Thus ended all +intercourse between Japan and Spain. It had continued for 32 years and +had engendered a widespread conviction that Christianity was an +instrument of Spanish aggression. + +Iyemitsu, son of Hidetada, now ruled in Yedo, though Hidetada himself +remained the power behind the throne. The year (1623) of the former's +accession to power had been marked by the re-issue of anti-Christian +decrees, and by the martyrdom of some 500 Christians within the Tokugawa +domains, whither the tide of persecution now flowed for the first time. +Thenceforth the campaign was continuous. The men most active and most +relentless in carrying on the persecution were Mizuno and Takenaka, +governors of Nagasaki, and Matsukura, feudatory of Shimabara. By the +latter were invented the punishment of throwing converts into the +solfataras at Unzen and the torture of the _fosse_, which consisted in +suspension by the feet, head downwards, in a pit until blood oozed from +the mouth, nose and ears. Many endured this latter torture for days, +until death came to their relief, but a few--notably the Jesuit +provincial Ferreyra--apostatized. Matsukura and Takenaka were so +strongly obsessed by the Spanish menace that they contemplated the +conquest of the Philippines in order to deprive the Spaniards of a +Far-Eastern base. But timid counsels then prevailed in Yedo, where the +spirit of a Nobunaga, a Hideyoshi or an Iyeyasu no longer presided. Of +course the measures of repression grew in severity as the fortitude of +the Christians became more obdurate. It is not possible to state the +exact number of victims. Some historians say that, down to 1635, no +fewer than 280,000 were punished, but that figure is probably +exaggerated, for the most trustworthy records indicate that the converts +never aggregated more than 300,000, and many of these, if not a great +majority, having accepted the foreign faith very lightly, doubtless +discarded it readily under menace of destruction. Every opportunity was +given for apostatizing and for escaping death. Immunity could be secured +by pointing out a fellow-convert, and when it is observed that among the +seven or eight feudatories who embraced Christianity only two or three +died in that faith, we must conclude that not a few cases of recanting +occurred among the commoners. Remarkable fortitude, however, is said to +have been displayed. If the converts were intrepid their teachers showed +no less courage. Again and again the latter defied the Japanese +authorities by coming to the country or returning thither after having +been deported. Ignoring the orders of the governors of Macao and Manila +and even of the king of Spain himself, they arrived, year after year, to +be certainly apprehended and sent to the stake after brief periods of +propagandism. In 1626 they actually baptized over 3000 converts. Large +rewards were paid to anyone denouncing a propagandist, and as for the +people, they had to trample upon a picture of Christ in order to prove +that they were not Christians. + +Meanwhile the feuds between the Dutch, the Spaniards and the Portuguese +never ceased. In 1636, the Dutch found on a captured Portuguese vessel a +report of the governor of Macao describing a two days' festival which +had been held there in honour of Vieyra, the vice-provincial whose +martyrdom had just taken place in Japan. This report the Dutch handed to +the Japanese authorities "in order that his majesty may see more clearly +what great honour the Portuguese pay to those he has forbidden his realm +as traitors to the state and to his crown." Probably the accusation +added little to the resentment and distrust already harboured by the +Japanese against the Portuguese. At all events the Yedo government took +no step distinctly hostile to Portuguese laymen until 1637, when an +edict was issued forbidding any foreigners to travel in the empire, lest +Portuguese with passports bearing Dutch names might enter it. This was +the beginning of the end. In the last month of 1637 a rebellion broke +out, commonly called the "Christian revolt of Shimabara," which sealed +the fate of Japan's foreign intercourse for over 200 years. + + + The Shimabara Revolt. + +The promontory of Shimabara and the island of Amakusa enclose the gulf +of Nagasaki on the west. Among all the fiefs in Japan, Shimabara and +Amakusa had been the two most thoroughly christianized in the early +years of Jesuit propagandism. Hence in later days they were naturally +the scene of the severest persecutions. Still the people would probably +have suffered in silence had they not been taxed beyond all endurance to +supply funds for an extravagant chief who employed savage methods of +extortion. Japanese annals, however, relegate the taxation grievance to +an altogether secondary place, and attribute the revolt solely to the +instigation of five samurai who led a roving life to avoid persecution +for their adherence to Christianity. Whichever version be correct, it is +certain that the outbreak ultimately attracted all the Christians from +the surrounding regions, and was regarded by the authorities as in +effect a Christian rising. The Amakusa insurgents passed over to +Shimabara, and on the 27th of January 1638 the whole body--numbering, +according to some authorities, 20,000 fighting men with 17,000 women and +children; according to others, little more than one-half of these +figures--took possession of the dilapidated castle of Hara, which stood +on a plateau with three sides descending perpendicularly to the sea, a +hundred feet beneath, and with a swamp on its fourth front. There the +insurgents, who fought under flags with red crosses and whose battle +cries were "Jesus," "Maria" and "St Iago," successfully maintained +themselves against the repeated assaults of strong forces until the 12th +of April, when, their ammunition and their provisions alike exhausted, +they were overwhelmed and put to the sword, with the exception of 105 +prisoners. During the siege the Dutch were enabled to furnish a vivid +proof of enmity to the Christianity of the Spaniards and the Portuguese. +For the guns in possession of the besiegers being too light to +accomplish anything, Koeckebacker, the factor at Hirado, was invited to +send ships carrying heavier metal. He replied with the "de Ryp" of 20 +guns, which threw 426 shot into the castle in 15 days. Probably the +great bulk of the remaining Japanese Christians perished at the massacre +of Hara. Thenceforth there were few martyrs.[32] + + + Foreign Trade in the 17th Century. + +It has been clearly shown that Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Iyeyasu were all +in favour of foreign intercourse and trade, and that the Tokugawa chief, +even more than his predecessor Hideyoshi, made strenuous efforts to +differentiate between Christianity and commerce, so that the latter +might not be involved in the former's fate. In fact the three objects +which Iyeyasu desired most earnestly to compass were the development of +foreign commerce, the acquisition of a mercantile marine and the +exploitation of Japan's mines. He offered the Spaniards, Portuguese, +English and Dutch a site for a settlement in Yedo, and had they accepted +the offer the country might never have been closed. In his time Japan +was virtually a free-trade country. Importers had not to pay any duties. +It was expected, however, that they should make presents to the +feudatory into whose port they carried their goods, and these presents +were often very valuable. Naturally the Tokugawa chief desired to +attract such a source of wealth to his own domains. He sent more than +one envoy to Manila to urge the opening of commerce direct with the +regions about Yedo, and to ask the Spaniards for competent naval +architects. Perhaps the truest exposition of his attitude is given in a +law enacted in 1602:-- + + "If any foreign vessel by stress of weather is obliged to touch at any + principality or to put into any harbour of Japan, we order that, + whoever these foreigners may be, absolutely nothing whatever that + belongs to them or that they may have brought in their ship, shall be + taken from them. Likewise we rigorously prohibit the use of any + violence in the purchase or the sale of any of the commodities brought + by their ship, and if it is not convenient for the merchants of the + ship to remain in the port they have entered, they may pass to any + other port that may suit them, and therein buy and sell in full + freedom. Likewise we order in a general manner that foreigners may + freely reside in any part of Japan they choose, but we rigorously + forbid them to promulgate their faith." + +It was in that mood that he granted (1605) a licence to the Dutch to +trade in Japan, his expectation doubtless being that the ships which +they promised to send every year would make their dépôt at Uraga or in +some other place near Yedo. But things were ordered differently. The +first Hollanders that set foot in Japan were the survivors of the +wrecked "Liefde." Thrown into prison for a time, they were approached by +emissaries from the feudatory of Hirado, who engaged some of them to +teach the art of casting guns and the science of gunnery to his vassals, +and when two of them were allowed to leave Japan, he furnished them with +the means of doing so, at the same time making promises which invested +Hirado with attractions as a port of trade, though it was then and +always remained an insignificant fishing village. The Dutch possessed +precisely the qualifications suited to the situation then existing in +Japan: they had commercial potentialities without any religious +associations. Fully appreciating that fact, the shrewd feudatory of +Hirado laid himself out to entice the Dutchmen to his fief, and he +succeeded. Shortly afterwards, an incident occurred which clearly +betrayed the strength of the Tokugawa chief's desire to exploit Japan's +mines. The governor-general of the Philippines (Don Rodrigo Vivero y +Velasco), his ship being cast away on the Japanese coast on a voyage to +Acapulco, was received by Iyeyasu, and in response to the latter's +request for fifty miners, the Spaniard formulated terms to which Iyeyasu +actually agreed: that half the produce of the mines should go to the +miners; that the other half should be divided between Iyeyasu and the +king of Spain; that the latter might send commissioners to Japan to look +after his mining interests, and that these commissioners might be +accompanied by priests who would be entitled to have public churches for +holding services. This was in 1609, when the Tokugawa chief had again +and again imposed the strictest veto on Christian propagandism. There +can be little doubt that he understood the concession made to Don +Rodrigo in the sense of Hideyoshi's mandate to the Jesuits in Nagasaki, +namely, that a sufficient number might remain to minister to the +Portuguese traders frequenting the port. Iyeyasu had confidence in +himself and in his countrymen. He knew that emergencies could be dealt +with when they arose and he sacrificed nothing to timidity. But his +courageous policy died with him and the miners did not come. Neither did +the Spaniards ever devote any successful efforts to establishing trade +with Japan. Their vessels paid fitful visits to Uraga, but the +Portuguese continued to monopolize the commerce. + + + Opening of Dutch and English Trade. + +In 1611 a Dutch merchantman (the "Brach") reached Hirado with a cargo of +pepper, cloth, ivory, silk and lead. She carried two envoys, Spex and +Segerszoon, and in the very face of a Spanish embassy which had just +arrived from Manila expressly for the purpose of "settling the matter +regarding the Hollanders," the Dutchmen obtained a liberal patent from +Iyeyasu. Twelve years previously, the merchants of London, stimulated +generally by the success of the Dutch in trade with the East, and +specially by the fact that "these Hollanders had raised the price of +pepper against us from 3 shillings per pound to 6 shillings and 8 +shillings," organized the East India Company which immediately began to +send ships eastward. Of course the news that the Dutch were about to +establish a trading station in Japan reached London speedily, and the +East India Company lost no time in ordering one of their vessels, the +"Clove," under Captain Saris, to proceed to the Far-Eastern islands. She +carried a quantity of pepper, and on the voyage she endeavoured to +procure some spices at the Moluccas. But the Dutch would not suffer any +poaching on their valuable monopoly. The "Clove" entered Hirado on the +11th of June 1613. Saris seems to have been a man self-opinionated, of +shallow judgment and suspicious. Though strongly urged by Will Adams to +make Uraga the seat of the new trade, though convinced of the excellence +of the harbour there, and though instructed as to the great advantage of +proximity to the shogun's capital, he appears to have conceived some +distrust of Adams, for he chose Hirado. From Iyeyasu Captain Saris +received a most liberal charter, which plainly displayed the mood of the +Tokugawa shogun towards foreign trade:-- + + 1. The ship that has now come for the first time from England over the + sea to Japan may carry on trade of all kinds without hindrance. With + regard to future visits (of English ships) permission will be given in + regard to all matters. + + 2. With regard to the cargoes of ships, requisition will be made by + list according to the requirements of the shogunate. + + 3. English ships are free to visit any port in Japan. If disabled by + storms they may put into any harbour. + + 4. Ground in Yedo in the place which they may desire shall be given to + the English, and they may erect houses and reside and trade there. + They shall be at liberty to return to their country whenever they wish + to do so, and to dispose as they like of the houses they have erected. + + 5. If an Englishman dies in Japan of disease, or any other cause, his + effects shall be handed over without fail. + + 6. Forced sales of cargo, and violence, shall not take place. + + 7. If one of the English should commit an offence, he should be + sentenced by the English General according to the gravity of his + offence. + + (Translated by Professor Riess.) + +The terms of the 4th article show that the shogun expected the English +to make Yedo their headquarters. Had Saris done so, he would have been +free from all competition, would have had an immense market at his very +doors, would have economized the expense of numerous overland journeys +to the Tokugawa court, and would have saved the payment of many +"considerations." The result of his mistaken choice and subsequent bad +management was that, ten years later (1623), the English factory at +Hirado had to be closed, having incurred a total loss of about £2000. In +condonation of this failure it must be noted that a few months after the +death of Iyeyasu, the charter he had granted to Saris underwent serious +modification. The original document threw open to the English every port +in Japan; the revised document limited them to Hirado. But this +restriction may be indirectly traced to the blunder of not accepting a +settlement in Yedo and a port at Uraga. For the Tokugawa's foreign +policy was largely swayed by an apprehension lest the Kiushiu +feudatories, over whom the authority of Yedo had never been fully +established, might, by the presence of foreign traders, come into +possession of such a fleet and such an armament as would ultimately +enable them to wrest the administration of the empire from Tokugawa +hands. Hence the precaution of confining the English and the Dutch to +Hirado, the fief of a _daimyo_ too petty to become formidable, and to +Nagasaki which was an imperial city.[33] But evidently an English +factory in Yedo and English ships at Uraga would have strengthened the +Tokugawa ruler's hand instead of supplying engines of war to his +political foes. It must also be noted that the question of locality had +another injurious outcome. It exposed the English--and the Dutch +also--to crippling competition at the hands of a company of rich Osaka +monopolists, who, as representing an Imperial city and therefore being +pledged to the Tokugawa interests, enjoyed Yedo's favour and took full +advantage of it. These shrewd traders not only drew a ring round Hirado, +but also sent vessels on their own account to Cochin China, Siam, +Tonkin, Cambodia and other places, where they obtained many of the +staples in which the English and the Dutch dealt. Still the closure of +the English factory at Hirado was purely voluntary. From first to last +there had been no serious friction between the English and the Japanese. +The company's houses and godowns were not sold. These as well as the +charter were left in the hands of the daimyo of Hirado, who promised to +restore them should the English re-open business in Japan. The company +did think of doing so on more than one occasion, but no practical step +was taken until the year 1673, when a merchantman, aptly named the +"Return," was sent to seek permission. The Japanese, after mature +reflection, made answer that as the king of England was married to a +Portuguese princess, British subjects could not be permitted to visit +Japan. That this reply was suggested by the Dutch is very probable; that +it truly reflected the feeling of the Japanese government towards Roman +Catholics is certain. + + + The Last Days of the Portuguese in Japan. + +The Spaniards were expelled from Japan in 1624, the Portuguese in 1638. +Two years before the latter event, the Yedo government took a signally +retrogressive step. They ordained that no Japanese vessel should go +abroad; that no Japanese subject should leave the country, and that, if +detected attempting to do so, he should be put to death, the vessel that +carried him and her crew being seized "to await our pleasure"; that any +Japanese resident abroad should be executed if he returned; that the +children and descendants of Spaniards together with those who had +adopted such children should not be allowed to remain on pain of death; +and that no ship of ocean-going dimensions should be built in Japan. +Thus not only were the very children of the Christian propagandists +driven completely from the land, but the Japanese people also were +sentenced to imprisonment within the limits of their islands, and the +country was deprived of all hope of acquiring a mercantile marine. The +descendants of the Spaniards, banished by the edict, were taken to Macao +in two Portuguese galleons. They numbered 287 and the property they +carried with them aggregated 6,697,500 florins. But if the Portuguese +derived any gratification from this sweeping out of their much-abused +rivals, the feeling was destined to be short-lived. Already they were +subjected to humiliating restrictions. + + "From 1623 the galleons and their cargoes were liable to be burnt and + their crews executed if any foreign priest was found on board of them. + An official of the Japanese government was stationed in Macao for the + purpose of inspecting all intending passengers, and of preventing any + one that looked at all suspicious from proceeding to Japan. A complete + list and personal description of every one on board was drawn up by + this officer, a copy of it was handed to the captain and by him it had + to be delivered to the authorities who met him at Nagasaki before he + was allowed to anchor. If in the subsequent inspection any discrepancy + between the list and the persons actually carried by the vessel + appeared, it would prove very awkward for the captain. Then in the + inspection of the vessel letters were opened, trunks and boxes + ransacked, and all crosses, rosaries or objects of religion of any + kind had to be thrown overboard. In 1635 Portuguese were forbidden to + employ Japanese to carry their umbrellas or their shoes, and only + their chief men were allowed to bear arms, while they had to hire + fresh servants every year. It was in the following year (1636) that + the artificial islet of Deshima was constructed for their special + reception, or rather imprisonment. It lay in front of the former + Portuguese factory, with which it was connected by a bridge, and + henceforth the Portuguese were to be allowed to cross this bridge only + twice a year--at their arrival and at their departure. Furthermore, + all their cargoes had to be sold at a fixed price during their fifty + days' stay to a ring of licensed merchants from the imperial + towns."[34] + +The imposition of such irksome conditions did not deter the Portuguese, +who continued to send merchandise-laden galleons to Nagasaki. But in +1638 the bolt fell. The Shimabara rebellion was directly responsible. +Probably the fact of a revolt of Christian converts, in such numbers and +fighting with such resolution, would alone have sufficed to induce the +weak government in Yedo to get rid of the Portuguese altogether. But the +Portuguese were suspected of having instigated the Shimabara +insurrection, and the Japanese authorities believed that they had proof +of the fact. Hence, in 1638, an edict was issued proclaiming that as, in +defiance of the government's order, the Portuguese had continued to +bring missionaries to Japan; as they had supplied these missionaries +with provisions and other necessaries, and as they had fomented the +Shimabara rebellion, thenceforth any Portuguese ship coming to Japan +should be burned, together with her cargo, and every one on board of her +should be executed. Ample time was allowed before enforcing this edict. +Not only were the Portuguese ships then at Nagasaki permitted to close +up their commercial transactions and leave the port, but also in the +following year when two galleons arrived from Macao, they were merely +sent away with a copy of the edict and a stern warning. But the +Portuguese could not easily become reconciled to abandon a commerce from +which they had derived splendid profits prior to the intrusion of the +Spaniards, the Dutch and the English, and from which they might now hope +further gains, since, although the Dutch continued to be formidable +rivals, the Spaniards had been excluded, the English had withdrawn, and +the Japanese, by the suicidal policy of their own rulers, were no longer +able to send ships to China. Therefore they took a step which resulted +in one of the saddest episodes of the whole story. Four aged men, the +most respected citizens of Macao, were despatched (1640) to Nagasaki as +ambassadors in a ship carrying no cargo but only rich presents. They +bore a petition declaring that for a long time no missionaries had +entered Japan from Macao, that the Portuguese had not been in any way +connected with the Shimabara revolt, and that interruption of trade +would injure Japan as much as Portugal. These envoys arrived at Nagasaki +on the 1st of July 1640, and 24 days sufficed to bring from Yedo, +whither their petition had been sent, peremptory orders for their +execution as well as executioners to carry out the orders. There was no +possibility of resistance. The Japanese had removed the ship's rudder, +sails, guns and ammunition, and had placed the envoys, their suite and +the crews under guard in Deshima. On the 2nd of August they were all +summoned to the governor's hall of audience, where, after their protest +had been heard that ambassadors should be under the protection of +international law, the sentence written in Yedo 13 days previously was +read to them. The following morning the Portuguese were offered their +lives if they would apostatize. Every one rejected the offer, and being +then led out to the martyrs' mount, the heads of the envoys and of 57 of +their companions fell. Thirteen were saved to carry the news to Macao. +These thirteen, after witnessing the burning of the galleon, were +conducted to the governor's residence who gave them this message:-- + + "Do not fail to inform the inhabitants of Macao that the Japanese wish + to receive from them neither gold nor silver, nor any kind of presents + or merchandise; in a word, absolutely nothing which comes from them. + You are witnesses that I have caused even the clothes of those who + were executed yesterday to be burned. Let them do the same with + respect to us if they find occasion to do so; we consent to it without + difficulty. Let them think no more of us, just as if we were no longer + in the world." + +Finally the thirteen were taken to the martyrs' mount where, set up +above the heads of the victims, a tablet recounted the story of the +embassy and the reasons for the execution, and concluded with the +words:-- + + "So long as the sun warms the earth, let no Christian be so bold as to + come to Japan, and let all know that if King Philip himself, or even + the very God of the Christians, or the great Shaka contravene this + prohibition, they shall pay for it with their heads." + +Had the ministers of the shogun in Yedo desired to make clear to future +ages that to Christianity alone was due the expulsion of Spaniards and +Portuguese from Japan and her adoption of the policy of seclusion they +could not have placed on record more conclusive testimony. Macao +received the news with rejoicing in that its "earthly ambassadors had +been made ambassadors of heaven," but it did not abandon all hope of +overcoming Japan's obduracy. When Portugal recovered her independence in +1640, the people of Macao requested Lisbon to send an ambassador to +Japan, and on the 16th of July 1647 Don Gonzalo de Siqueira arrived in +Nagasaki with two vessels. He carried a letter from King John IV., +setting forth the severance of all connexion between Portugal and Spain, +which countries were now actually at war, and urging that commercial +relations should be re-established. The Portuguese, having refused to +give up their rudders and arms, soon found themselves menaced by a force +of fifty thousand samurai, and were glad to put out of port quietly on +the 4th of September. This was the last episode in the medieval history +of Portugal's intercourse with Japan. + + + The Dutch at Deshima. + +When (1609) the Dutch contemplated forming a settlement in Japan, +Iyeyasu gave them a written promise that "no man should do them any +wrong and that he would maintain and defend them as his own subjects." +Moreover, the charter granted to them contained a clause providing that, +into whatever ports their ships put, they were not to be molested or +hindered in any way, but, "on the contrary, must be shown all manner of +help, favour and assistance." They might then have chosen any port in +Japan for their headquarters, but they had the misfortune to choose +Hirado. For many years they had no cause to regret the choice. Their +exclusive possession of the Spice Islands and their own enterprise and +command of capital gave them the leading place in Japan's over-sea +trade. Even when things had changed greatly for the worse and when the +English closed their books with a large loss, it is on record that the +Dutch were reaping a profit of 76% annually. Their doings at Hirado were +not of a purely commercial character. The Anglo-Dutch "fleet of defence" +made that port its basis of operations against the Spaniards and the +Portuguese. It brought its prizes into Hirado, the profits to be equally +divided between the fleet and the factories, Dutch and English, which +arrangement involved a sum of a hundred thousand pounds in 1622. But +after the death of Iyeyasu there grew up at the Tokugawa court a party +which advocated the expulsion of all foreigners on the ground that, +though some professed a different form of Christianity from that of the +Castilians and Portuguese, it was nevertheless one and the same creed. +This policy was not definitely adopted, but it made itself felt in a +discourteous reception accorded to the commandant of Fort Zelandia when +he visited Tokyo in 1627. He attempted to retaliate upon the Japanese +vessels which put into Zelandia in the following year, but the Japanese +managed to seize his person, exact reparation for loss of time and +obtain five hostages whom they carried to prison in Japan. The Japanese +government of that time was wholly intolerant of any injury done to its +subjects by foreigners. When news of the Zelandia affair reached Yedo, +orders were immediately issued for the sequestration of certain Dutch +vessels and for the suspension of the Hirado factory, which veto was not +removed for four years. Commercial arrangements, also, became less +favourable. The Dutch, instead of selling their silk--which generally +formed the principal staple of import--in the open market, were required +to send it to the Osaka gild of licensed merchants at Nagasaki, by which +means, Nagasaki and Osaka being Imperial cities, the Yedo government +derived advantage from the transaction. An attempt to evade this onerous +system provoked a very stern rebuke from Yedo, and shortly afterwards +all Japanese subjects were forbidden to act as servants to the Dutch +outside the latter's dwellings. The co-operation of the Hollanders in +bombarding the castle of Hara during the Shimabara rebellion (1638) gave +them some claim on the shogun's government, but in the same year the +Dutch received an imperious warning that the severest penalties would be +inflicted if their ships carried priests or any religious objects or +books. So profound was the dislike of everything relating to +Christianity that the Dutch nearly caused the ruin of their factory and +probably their own destruction by inscribing on some newly erected +warehouses the date according to the Christian era. The factory happened +to be then presided over by Caron, a man of extraordinary penetration. +Without a moment's hesitation he set 400 men to pull down the +warehouses, thus depriving the Japanese of all pretext for recourse to +violence. He was compelled, however, to promise that there should be no +observance of the Sabbath hereafter and that time should no longer be +reckoned by the Christian era. In a few months, further evidence of +Yedo's ill will was furnished. An edict appeared ordering the Dutch to +dispose of all their imports during the year of their arrival, without +any option of carrying them away should prices be low. They were thus +placed at the mercy of the Osaka gild. Further, they were forbidden to +slaughter cattle or carry arms, and altogether it seemed as though the +situation was to be rendered impossible for them. An envoy despatched +from Batavia to remonstrate could not obtain audience of the shogun, and +though he presented, by way of remonstrance, the charter originally +granted by Iyeyasu, the reply he received was:-- + + "His Majesty charges us to inform you that it is of but slight + importance to the Empire of Japan whether foreigners come or do not + come to trade. But in consideration of the charter granted to them by + Iyeyasu, he is pleased to allow the Hollanders to continue their + operations, and to leave them their commercial and other privileges, + on the condition that they evacuate Hirado and establish themselves + with their vessels in the port of Nagasaki." + +The Dutch did not at first regard this as a calamity. During their +residence of 31 years at Hirado they had enjoyed full freedom, had been +on excellent terms with the feudatory and his samurai, and had prospered +in their business. But the pettiness of the place and the inconvenience +of the anchorage having always been recognized, transfer to Nagasaki +promised a splendid harbour and much larger custom. Bitter, therefore, +was their disappointment when they found that they were to be imprisoned +in Deshima, a quadrangular island whose longest face did not measure 300 +yds., and that, so far from living in the town of Nagasaki, they would +not be allowed even to enter it. Siebold writes:-- + + "A guard at the gate prevented all communications with the city of + Nagasaki; no Dutchman without weighty reasons and without the + permission of the governor might pass the gate; no Japanese (unless + public women) might live in a Dutchman's house. As if this were not + enough, even within Deshima itself our state prisoners were keenly + watched. No Japanese might speak with them in his own language unless + in the presence of a witness (a government spy) or visit them in their + houses. The creatures of the governor had the warehouses under key and + the Dutch traders ceased to be masters of their property." + +There were worse indignities to be endured. No Dutchman might be buried +in Japanese soil: the dead had to be committed to the deep. Every Dutch +ship, her rudder, guns and ammunition removed and her sails sealed, was +subjected to the strictest search. No religious service could be held. +No one was suffered to pass from one Dutch ship to another without the +governor's permit. Sometimes the officers and men were wantonly +cudgelled by petty Japanese officials. They led, in short, a life of +extreme abasement. Some relaxation of this extreme severity was +afterwards obtained, but at no time of their sojourn in Deshima, a +period of 217 years, were the Dutch relieved from irksome and +humiliating restraints. Eleven years after their removal thither, the +expediency of consulting the national honour by finally abandoning an +enterprise so derogatory was gravely discussed, but hopes of improvement +supplementing natural reluctance to surrender a monopoly which still +brought large gains, induced them to persevere. At that time this +Nagasaki over-sea trade was considerable. From 7 to 10 Dutch ships used +to enter the port annually, carrying cargo valued at some 80,000 lb. of +silver, the chief staples of import being silk and piece-goods, and the +government levying 5% by way of customs dues. But this did not represent +the whole of the charges imposed. A rent of 459 lb. of silver had to be +paid each year for the little island of Deshima and the houses standing +on it; and, further, every spring, the Hollanders were required to send +to Yedo a mission bearing for the shogun, the heir-apparent and the +court officials presents representing an aggregate value of about 550 +lb. of silver. They found their account, nevertheless, in buying gold +and copper--especially the latter--for exportation, until the Japanese +authorities, becoming alarmed at the great quantity of copper thus +carried away, adopted the policy of limiting the number of vessels, as +well as their inward and outward cargoes, so that, in 1790, only one +ship might enter annually, nor could she carry away more than 350 tons +of copper. On the other hand, the formal visits of the captain of the +factory to Yedo were reduced to one every fifth year, and the value of +the presents carried by him was cut down to one half. + + + Loss to Japan by adopting the Policy of Exclusion. + +Well-informed historians have contended that, by thus segregating +herself from contact with the West, Japan's direct losses were small. +Certainly it is true that she could not have learned much from European +nations in the 17th century. They had little to teach her in the way of +religious tolerance; in the way of international morality; in the way of +social amenities and etiquette; in the way of artistic conception and +execution; or in the way of that notable shibboleth of modern +civilization, the open door and equal opportunities. Yet when all this +is admitted, there remains the vital fact that Japan was thus shut off +from the atmosphere of competition, and that for nearly two centuries +and a half she never had an opportunity of warming her intelligence at +the fire of international rivalry or deriving inspiration from an +exchange of ideas. She stood comparatively still while the world went +on, and the interval between her and the leading peoples of the Occident +in matters of material civilization had become very wide before she +awoke to a sense of its existence. The sequel of this page of her +history has been faithfully summarized by a modern writer:-- + + "A more complete metamorphosis of a nation's policy could scarcely be + conceived. In 1541 we find the Japanese celebrated, or notorious, + throughout the whole of the Far East for exploits abroad; we find them + known as the 'kings of the sea'; we find them welcoming foreigners + with cordiality and opposing no obstacles to foreign commerce or even + to the propagandism of foreign creeds; we find them so quick to + recognize the benefits of foreign trade and so apt to pursue them + that, in the space of a few years, they establish commercial relations + with no less than twenty over-sea markets; we find them authorizing + the Portuguese, the Dutch and the English to trade at every port in + the empire; we find, in short, all the elements requisite for a career + of commercial enterprise, ocean-going adventure and industrial + liberality. In 1641 everything is reversed. Trade is interdicted to + all Western peoples except the Dutch, and they are confined to a + little island 200 yards in length by 80 in width; the least symptom of + predilection for any alien creed exposes a Japanese subject to be + punished with awful rigour; any attempt to leave the limits of the + realm involves decapitation; not a ship large enough to pass beyond + the shadow of the coast may be built. However unwelcome the admission, + it is apparent that for all these changes Christian propagandism was + responsible. The policy of seclusion adopted by Japan in the early + part of the 17th century and resolutely pursued until the middle of + the 19th, was anti-Christian, not anti-foreign. The fact cannot be too + clearly recognized. It is the chief lesson taught by the events + outlined above. Throughout the whole of that period of isolation, + Occidentals were not known to the Japanese by any of the terms now in + common use, as _gwaikoku-jin_, _seiyo-jin_, or _i-jin_, which embody + the simple meanings 'foreigner,' 'Westerner' or 'alien': they were + popularly called _bateren_ (_padres_). Thus completely had foreign + intercourse and Christian propagandism become identified in the eyes + of the people. And when it is remembered that foreign intercourse, + associated with Christianity, had come to be synonymous in Japanese + ears with foreign aggression, with the subversal of the mikado's + ancient dynasty, and with the loss of the independence of the 'country + of the gods,' there is no difficulty in understanding the attitude of + the nation's mind towards this question." + + + Dutch and Russian Influence. + +_Foreign Intercourse in Modern Times._--From the middle of the 17th +century to the beginning of the 19th, Japan succeeded in rigorously +enforcing her policy of seclusion. But in the concluding days of this +epoch two influences began to disturb her self-sufficiency. One was the +gradual infiltration of light from the outer world through the narrow +window of the Dutch prison at Deshima; the other, frequent apparitions +of Russian vessels on her northern coasts. The former was a slow +process. It materialized first in the study of anatomy by a little group +of youths who had acquired accidental knowledge of the radical +difference between Dutch and Japanese conceptions as to the structure of +the human body. The work of these students reads like a page of romance. +Without any appreciable knowledge of the Dutch language, they set +themselves to decipher a Dutch medical book, obtained at enormous cost, +and from this small beginning they passed to a vague but firm conviction +that their country had fallen far behind the material and intellectual +progress of the Occident. They laboured in secret, for the study of +foreign books was then a criminal offence; yet the patriotism of one of +their number outweighed his prudence, and he boldly published a brochure +advocating the construction of a navy and predicting a descent by the +Russians on the northern borders of the empire. Before this prescient +man had lain five months in prison, his foresight was verified by +events. The Russians simulated at the outset a desire to establish +commercial relations by peaceful means. Had the Japanese been better +acquainted with the history of nations, they would have known how to +interpret the idea of a Russian quest for commercial connexions in the +Far East a hundred years ago. But they dealt with the question on its +superficial merits, and, after imposing on the tsar's envoys a wearisome +delay of several months at Nagasaki, addressed to them a peremptory +refusal together with an order to leave that port forthwith. Incensed by +such treatment, and by the subsequent imprisonment of a number of their +fellow countrymen who had landed on the island of Etorofu in the +Kuriles, the Russians resorted to armed reprisals. The Japanese +settlements in Sakhalin and Etorofu were raided and burned, other places +were menaced and several Japanese vessels were destroyed. The lesson +sank deep into the minds of the Yedo officials. They withdrew their veto +against the study of foreign books, and they arrived in part at the +reluctant conclusion that to offer armed opposition to the coming of +foreign ships was a task somewhat beyond Japan's capacity. Japan ceased, +however, to attract European attention amid the absorbing interest of +the Napoleonic era, and the shogun's government, misinterpreting this +respite, reverted to their old policy of stalwart resistance to foreign +intercourse. + + + American Enterprise. + +Meanwhile another power was beginning to establish close contact with +Japan. The whaling industry in Russian waters off the coast of Alaska +and in the seas of China and Japan had attracted large investments of +American capital and was pursued yearly by thousands of American +citizens. In one season 86 of these whaling vessels passed within easy +sight of Japan's northern island, Yezo, so that the aspect of foreign +ships became quite familiar. From time to time American schooners were +cast away on Japan's shores. Generally the survivors were treated with +tolerable consideration and ultimately sent to Deshima for shipment to +Batavia. Japanese sailors, too, driven out of their route by hurricanes +and caught in the stream of the "Black Current," were occasionally +carried to the Aleutian Islands, to Oregon or California, and in several +instances these shipwrecked mariners were taken back to Japan with all +kindness by American vessels. On such an errand of mercy the "Morrison" +entered Yedo Bay in 1837, proceeding thence to Kagoshima, only to be +driven away by cannon shot; and on such an errand the "Manhattan" in +1845 lay for four days at Uraga while her master (Mercater Cooper) +collected books and charts. It would seem that his experience induced +the Washington government to attempt the opening of Japan. A ninety-gun +ship and a sloop were sent on the errand. They anchored off Uraga (July +1846) and Commodore Biddle made due application for trade. But he +received a positive refusal, and having been instructed by his +government to abstain from any act calculated to excite hostility or +distrust, he quietly weighed anchor and sailed away. + + + Great Britain reappears upon the scene. + +In this same year (1846) a French ship touched at the Riukiu (Luchu) +archipelago and sought to persuade the islanders that their only +security against British aggression was to place themselves under the +protection of France. In fact Great Britain was now beginning to +interest herself in south China, and more than one warning reached Yedo +from Deshima that English war-ships might at any moment visit Japanese +waters. The Dutch have been much blamed for thus attempting to prejudice +Japan against the Occident, but if the dictates of commercial rivalry, +as it was then practised, do not constitute an ample explanation, it +should be remembered that England and Holland had recently been enemies, +and that the last British vessel,[35] seen at Nagasaki had gone there +hoping to capture the annual Dutch trading-ship from Batavia. Deshima's +warnings, however, remained unfulfilled, though they doubtless +contributed to Japan's feeling of uneasiness. Then, in 1847, the king of +Holland himself intervened. He sent to Yedo various books, together with +a map of the world and a despatch advising Japan to abandon her policy +of isolation. Within a few months (1849) of the receipt of his Dutch +majesty's recommendation, an American brig, the "Preble," under +Commander J. Glynn, anchored in Nagasaki harbour and threatened to +bombard the town unless immediate delivery were made of 18 seamen who, +having been wrecked in northern waters, were held by the Japanese +preparatory to shipment for Batavia. In 1849 another despatch reached +Yedo from the king of Holland announcing that an American fleet might be +expected in Japanese waters a year later, and that, unless Japan agreed +to enter into friendly commercial relations, war must ensue. Appended to +this despatch was an approximate draft of the treaty which would be +presented for signature, together with a copy of a memorandum addressed +by the Washington government to European nations, justifying the +contemplated expedition on the ground that it would inure to the +advantage of Japan as well as to that of the Occident. + + + Commodore Perry. + +In 1853, Commodore Perry, with a squadron of four ships-of-war and 560 +men, entered Uraga Bay. So formidable a foreign force had not been seen +in Japanese waters since the coming of the Mongol Armada. A panic ensued +among the people--the same people who, in the days of Hideyoshi or +Iyeyasu, would have gone out to encounter these ships with assured +confidence of victory. The contrast did not stop there. The shogun, +whose ancestors had administered the country's affairs with absolutely +autocratic authority, now summoned a council of the feudatories to +consider the situation; and the Imperial court in Kioto, which never +appealed for heaven's aid except in a national emergency such as had +never been witnessed since the creation of the shogunate, now directed +that at the seven principal shrines and at all the great temples special +prayers should be offered for the safety of the land and for the +destruction of the aliens. Thus the appearance of the American squadron +awoke in the cause of the country as a whole a spirit of patriotism +hitherto confined to feudal interests. The shogun does not seem to have +had any thought of invoking that spirit: his part in raising it was +involuntary and his ministers behaved with perplexed vacillation. The +infirmity of the Yedo Administration's purpose presented such a strong +contrast to the single-minded resolution of the Imperial court that the +prestige of the one was largely impaired and that of the other +correspondingly enhanced. Perry, however, was without authority to +support his proposals by any recourse to violence. The United States +government had relied solely on the moral effect of his display of +force, and his countrymen had supplied him with a large collection of +the products of peaceful progress, from sewing machines to miniature +railways. He did not unduly press for a treaty, but after lying at +anchor off Uraga during a period of ten days and after transmitting the +president's letter to the sovereign of Japan, he steamed away on the +17th of July, announcing his return in the ensuing spring. The conduct +of the Japanese subsequently to his departure showed how fully and +rapidly they had acquired the conviction that the appliances of their +old civilization were powerless to resist the resources of the new. +Orders were issued rescinding the long-enforced veto against the +construction of sea-going ships; the feudal chiefs were invited to build +and arm large vessels; the Dutch were commissioned to furnish a ship of +war and to procure from Europe all the best works on modern military +science; every one who had acquired any expert knowledge through the +medium of Deshima was taken into official favour; forts were built; +cannon were cast and troops were drilled. But from all this effort there +resulted only fresh evidence of the country's inability to defy foreign +insistence, and on the 2nd of December 1853, instructions were issued +that if the Americans returned, they were to be dealt with peacefully. +The sight of Perry's steam-propelled ships, their powerful guns and all +the specimens they carried of western wonders, had practically broken +down the barriers of Japan's isolation without any need of treaties or +conventions. Perry returned in the following February, and after an +interchange of courtesies and formalities extending over six weeks, +obtained a treaty pledging Japan to accord kind treatment to shipwrecked +sailors; to permit foreign vessels to obtain stores and provisions +within her territory, and to allow American ships to anchor in the ports +at Shimoda and Hakodate. On this second occasion Perry had 10 ships with +crews numbering two thousand, and when he landed to sign the treaty, he +was escorted by a guard of honour mustering 500 strong in 27 boats. Much +has been written about his judicious display of force and his sagacious +tact in dealing with the Japanese, but it may be doubted whether the +consequences of his exploit have not invested its methods with +extravagant lustre. Standing on the threshold of modern Japan's +wonderful career, his figure shines by the reflected light of its +surroundings. + + + First Treaty of Commerce. + +Russia, Holland and England speedily secured for themselves treaties +similar to that concluded by Commodore Perry in 1854. But Japan's doors +still remained closed to foreign commerce, and it was reserved for +another citizen of the great republic to open them. This was Townsend +Harris (1803-1878), the first U.S. consul-general in Japan. Arriving in +August 1856, he concluded, in June of the following year, a treaty +securing to American citizens the privilege of permanent residence at +Shimoda and Hakodate, the opening of Nagasaki, the right of consular +jurisdiction and certain minor concessions. Still, however, permission +for commercial intercourse was withheld, and Harris, convinced that this +great goal could not be reached unless he made his way to Yedo and +conferred direct with the shogun's ministers, pressed persistently for +leave to do so. Ten months elapsed before he succeeded, and such a +display of reluctance on the Japanese side was very unfavourably +criticized in the years immediately subsequent. Ignorance of the +country's domestic politics inspired the critics. The Yedo +administration, already weakened by the growth of a strong public +sentiment in favour of abolishing the dual system of government--that of +the mikado in Kioto and that of the shogun in Yedo--had been still +further discredited by its own timid policy as compared with the +stalwart mien of the throne towards the question of foreign intercourse. +Openly to sanction commercial relations at such a time would have been +little short of reckless. The Perry convention and the first Harris +convention could be construed, and were purposely construed, as mere +acts of benevolence towards strangers; but a commercial treaty would not +have lent itself to any such construction, and naturally the shogun's +ministers hesitated to agree to an apparently suicidal step. Harris +carried his point, however. He was received by the shogun in Yedo in +November 1857, and on the 29th of July 1858 a treaty was signed in Yedo, +engaging that Yokohama should be opened on the 4th of July 1859 and that +commerce between the United States and Japan should thereafter be freely +carried on there. This treaty was actually concluded by the shogun's +Ministers in defiance of their failure to obtain the sanction of the +sovereign in Kioto. Foreign historians have found much to say about +Japanese duplicity in concealing the subordinate position occupied by +the Yedo administration towards the Kioto court. Such condemnation is +not consistent with fuller knowledge. The Yedo authorities had power to +solve all problems of foreign intercourse without reference to Kioto. +Iyeyasu had not seen any occasion to seek imperial assent when he +granted unrestricted liberty of trade to the representatives of the East +India Company, nor had Iyemitsu asked for Kioto's sanction when he +issued his decree for the expulsion of all foreigners. If, in the 19th +century, Yedo shrank from a responsibility which it had unhesitatingly +assumed in the 17th, the cause was to be found, not in the shogun's +simulation of autonomy, but in his desire to associate the throne with a +policy which, while recognizing it to be unavoidable, he distrusted his +own ability to make the nation accept. But his ministers had promised +Harris that the treaty should be signed, and they kept their word, at a +risk of which the United States' consul-general had no conception. +Throughout these negotiations Harris spared no pains to create in the +minds of the Japanese an intelligent conviction that the world could no +longer be kept at arm's length, and though it is extremely problematical +whether he would have succeeded had not the Japanese themselves already +arrived at that very conviction, his patient and lucid expositions +coupled with a winning personality undoubtedly produced much impression. +He was largely assisted, too, by recent events in China, where the Peiho +forts had been captured and the Chinese forced to sign a treaty at +Tientsin. Harris warned the Japanese that the British fleet might be +expected at any moment in Yedo Bay, and that the best way to avert +irksome demands at the hands of the English was to establish a +comparatively moderate precedent by yielding to America's proposals. + + + Effects of the Treaty. + +This treaty could not be represented, as previous conventions had been, +in the light of a purely benevolent concession. It definitely provided +for the trade and residence of foreign merchants, and thus finally +terminated Japan's traditional isolation. Moreover, it had been +concluded in defiance of the Throne's refusal to sanction anything of +the kind. Much excitement resulted. The nation ranged itself into three +parties. One comprised the advocates of free intercourse and progressive +liberality; another, while insisting that only the most limited +privileges should be accorded to aliens, was of two minds as to the +advisability of offering armed resistance at once or temporizing so as +to gain time for preparation; the third advocated uncompromising +seclusion. Once again the shogun convoked a meeting of the feudal +barons, hoping to secure their co-operation. But with hardly an +exception they pronounced against yielding. Thus the shogunate saw +itself compelled to adopt a resolutely liberal policy: it issued a +decree in that sense, and thenceforth the administrative court at Yedo +and the Imperial court in Kioto stood in unequivocal opposition to each +other, the Conservatives ranging themselves on the side of the latter, +the Liberals on that of the former. It was a situation full of +perplexity to outsiders, and the foreign representatives misinterpreted +it. They imagined that the shogun's ministers sought only to evade their +treaty obligations and to render the situation intolerable for foreign +residents, whereas in truth the situation threatened to become +intolerable for the shogunate itself. Nevertheless the Yedo officials +cannot be entirely acquitted of duplicity. Under pressure of the +necessity of self-preservation they effected with Kioto a compromise +which assigned to foreign intercourse a temporary character. The +threatened political crisis was thus averted, but the enemies of the +dual system of government gained strength daily. One of their devices +was to assassinate foreigners in the hope of embroiling the shogunate +with Western powers and thus either forcing its hand or precipitating +its downfall. It is not wonderful, perhaps, that foreigners were +deceived, especially as they approached the solution of Japanese +problems with all the Occidental's habitual suspicion of everything +Oriental. Thus when the Yedo government, cognisant that serious dangers +menaced the Yokohama settlement, took precautions to guard it, the +foreign ministers convinced themselves that a deliberate piece of +chicanery was being practised at their expense; that statecraft rather +than truth had dictated the representations made to them by the Japanese +authorities; and that the alarm of the latter was simulated for the +purpose of finding a pretext to curtail the liberty enjoyed by +foreigners. Therefore a suggestion that the inmates of the legations +should show themselves as little as possible in the streets of the +capital, where at any moment a desperado might cut them down, was +treated almost as an insult. Then the Japanese authorities saw no +recourse except to attach an armed escort to the person of every +foreigner when he moved about the city. But even this precaution, which +certainly was not adopted out of mere caprice or with any sinister +design, excited fresh suspicions. The British representative, in +reporting the event to his government, said that the Japanese had taken +the opportunity to graft upon the establishment of spies, watchmen and +police-officers at the several legations, a mounted escort to accompany +the members whenever they moved about. + + + Attacks upon Foreigners and their Consequences. + +Just at this time (1861) the Yedo statesmen, in order to reconcile the +divergent views of the two courts, negotiated a marriage between the +emperor's sister and the shogun. But in order to bring the union about, +they had to placate the Kioto Conservatives by a promise to expel +foreigners from the country within ten years. When this became known, it +strengthened the hands of the reactionaries, and furnished a new weapon +to Yedo's enemies, who interpreted the marriage as the beginning of a +plot to dethrone the mikado. Murderous attacks upon foreigners became +more frequent. Two of these assaults had momentous consequences. Three +British subjects attempted to force their way through the _cortège_ of +the Satsuma feudal chief on the highway between Yokohama and Yedo. One +of them was killed and the other two wounded. This outrage was not +inspired by the "barbarian-expelling" sentiment: to any Japanese subject +violating the rules of etiquette as these Englishmen had violated them, +the same fate would have been meted out. Nevertheless, as the Satsuma +daimyo refused to surrender his implicated vassals, and as the shogun's +arm was not long enough to reach the most powerful feudatory in Japan, +the British government sent a squadron to bombard his capital, +Kagoshima. It was not a brilliant exploit in any sense, but its results +were invaluable; for the operations of the British ships finally +convinced the Satsuma men of their impotence in the face of Western +armaments, and converted them into advocates of liberal progress. Three +months previously to this bombardment of Kagoshima another puissant +feudatory had thrown down the gauntlet. The Choshu chief, whose +batteries commanded the entrance to the inland sea at Shimonoseki, +opened fire upon ships flying the flags of the United States, of France +and of Holland. In thus acting he obeyed an edict obtained by the +extremists from the mikado without the knowledge of the shogun, which +edict fixed the 11th of May 1863 as the date for practically +inaugurating the foreigners-expulsion policy. Again the shogun's +administrative competence proved inadequate to exact reparation, and a +squadron, composed chiefly of British men-of-war, proceeding to +Shimonoseki, demolished Choshu's forts, destroyed his ships and +scattered his samurai. In the face of the Kagoshima bombardment and the +Shimonoseki expedition, no Japanese subject could retain any faith in +his country's ability to oppose Occidentals by force. Thus the year 1863 +was memorable in Japan's history. It saw the "barbarian-expelling" +agitation deprived of the emperor's sanction; it saw the two principal +clans, Satsuma and Choshu, convinced of their country's impotence to +defy the Occident; it saw the nation almost fully roused to the +disintegrating and weakening effects of the feudal system; and it saw +the traditional antipathy to foreigners beginning to be exchanged for a +desire to study their civilization and to adopt its best features. + + + Ratification of the Treaties. + +The treaty concluded between the shogun's government and the United +States in 1858 was of course followed by similar compacts with the +principal European powers. From the outset these states agreed to +co-operate for the assertion of their conventional privileges, and they +naturally took Great Britain for leader, though such a relation was +never openly announced. The treaties, however, continued during several +years to lack imperial ratification, and, as time went by, that defect +obtruded itself more and more upon the attention of their foreign +signatories. The year 1865 saw British interests entrusted to the charge +of Sir Harry Parkes, a man of keen insight, indomitable courage and +somewhat peremptory methods, learned during a long period of service in +China. It happened that the post of Japanese secretary at the British +legation in Yedo was then held by a remarkably gifted young Englishman, +who, in a comparatively brief interval, had acquired a good working +knowledge of the Japanese language, and it happened also that the +British legation in Yedo was already--as it has always been ever +since--the best equipped institution of its class in Japan. Aided by +these facilities and by the researches of Mr Satow (afterwards Sir +Ernest Satow) Parkes arrived at the conclusions that the Yedo government +was tottering to its fall; that the resumption of administrative +authority by the Kioto court would make for the interests not only of +the West but also of Japan; and that the ratification of the treaties by +the mikado would elucidate the situation for foreigners while being, at +the same time, essential to the validity of the documents. Two other +objects also presented themselves, namely, that the import duties fixed +by the conventions should be reduced from 15 to 5% _ad valorem_, and +that the ports of Hiogo and Osaka should be opened at once, instead of +at the expiration of two years as originally fixed. It was not proposed +that these concessions should be entirely gratuitous. When the +four-power flotilla destroyed the Shimonoseki batteries and sank the +vessels lying there, a fine of three million dollars (some £750,000) had +been imposed upon the daimyo of Choshu by way of ransom for his capital, +which lay at the mercy of the invaders. The daimyo of Choshu, however, +was in open rebellion against the shogun, and as the latter could not +collect the debt from the recalcitrant clansmen, while the four powers +insisted on being paid by some one, the Yedo treasury was finally +compelled to shoulder the obligation. Two out of the three millions were +still due, and Parkes conceived the idea of remitting this debt in +exchange for the ratification of the treaties, the reduction of the +customs tariff from 15 to 5% _ad valorem_ and the immediate opening of +Hiogo and Osaka. He took with him to the place of negotiation (Hiogo) a +fleet of British, French and Dutch war-ships, for, while announcing +peaceful intentions, he had accustomed himself to think that a display +of force should occupy the foreground in all negotiations with Oriental +states. This coup may be said to have sealed the fate of the shogunate. +For here again was produced in a highly aggravated form the drama which +had so greatly startled the nation eight years previously. Perry had +come with his war-ships to the portals of Yedo, and now a foreign fleet, +twice as strong as Perry's, had anchored at the vestibule of the +Imperial city itself. No rational Japanese could suppose that this +parade of force was for purely peaceful purposes, or that rejection of +the amicable bargain proposed by Great Britain's representative would be +followed by the quiet withdrawal of the menacing fleet, whose terrible +potentialities had been demonstrated at Kagoshima and Shimonoseki. The +seclusionists, whose voices had been nearly silenced, raised them in +renewed denunciation of the shogun's incompetence to guarantee the +sacred city of Kioto against such trespasses, and the emperor, brought +once more under the influence of the anti-foreign party, inflicted a +heavy disgrace on the shogun by dismissing and punishing the officials +to whom the latter had entrusted the conduct of negotiations at Hiogo. +Such procedure on the part of the throne amounted to withdrawing the +administrative commission held by the Tokugawa family since the days of +Iyeyasu. The shogun resigned. But his adversaries not being yet ready to +replace him, he was induced to resume office, with, however, fatally +damaged prestige. As for the three-power squadron, it steamed away +successful. Parkes had come prepared to write off the indemnity in +exchange for three concessions. He obtained two of the concessions +without remitting a dollar of the debt. + + + Final Adoption of Western Civilization. + +The shogun did not long survive the humiliation thus inflicted on him. +He died in the following year (1866), and was succeeded by Keiki, +destined to be the last of the Tokugawa rulers. Nine years previously +this same Keiki had been put forward by the seclusionists as candidate +for the shogunate. Yet no sooner did he attain that distinction in 1866 +than he remodelled the army on French lines, engaged English officers to +organize a navy, sent his brother to the Paris Exhibition, and altered +many of the forms and ceremonies of his court so as to bring them into +accord with Occidental fashions. The contrast between the politics he +represented when a candidate for office in 1857 and the practice he +adopted on succeeding to power in 1866 furnished an apt illustration of +the change that had come over the spirit of the time. The most bigoted +of the exclusionists were now beginning to abandon all idea of expelling +foreigners and to think mainly of acquiring the best elements of their +civilization. The Japanese are slow to reach a decision but very quick +to act upon it when reached. From 1866 onwards the new spirit rapidly +permeated the whole nation; progress became the aim of all classes, and +the country entered upon a career of intelligent assimilation which, in +forty years, won for Japan a universally accorded place in the ranks of +the great Occidental powers. + + [Continued in volume XV slice III.] + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [1] The highest rate of subscription to a daily journal is twelve + shillings per annum, and the usual charge for advertisement is from + 7d. to one shilling per line of 22 ideographs (about nine words). + + [2] It is first boiled in a lye obtained by lixiviating wood ashes; + it is next polished with charcoal powder; then immersed in plum + vinegar and salt; then washed with weak lye and placed in a tub of + water to remove all traces of alkali, the final step being to digest + in a boiling solution of copper sulphate, verdigris and water. + + [3] This method is some 300 years old. It is by no means a modern + invention, as some writers have asserted. + + [4] Obtained from the shell of the _Halictis_. + + [5] In 1877 there were 120 English engineers, drivers and foremen in + the service of the railway bureau. Three years later only three + advisers remained. + + [6] The largest is the mitsubishi at Nagasaki. It has a length of 722 + ft. Next stands the kawasaki at Kobe, and in the third place is the + uraga. + + [7] They were called _fuda-sashi_ (ticket-holders), a term derived + from the fact that rice-vouchers were usually held in a split bamboo + which was thrust into a pile of rice-bags to indicate their buyer. + + [8] In 1725, when the population of Yedo was about three-quarters of + a million, the merchandise that entered the city was 861,893 bags of + rice; 795,856 casks of sake; 132,892 casks of soy (fish-sauce); + 18,209,987 bundles of fire-wood; 809,790 bags of charcoal; 90,811 + tubs of oil; 1,670,850 bags of salt and 3,613,500 pieces of cotton + cloth. + + [9] Some derive this term from _mika_, an ancient Japanese term for + "great," and _to_, "place." + + [10] The names given in italics are those more commonly used. Those + in the first column are generally of pure native derivation; those in + the second column are composed of the Chinese word _shu_, a + "province," added to the Chinese pronunciation of one of the + characters with which the native name is written. In a few cases both + names are used. + + [11] The mayor of a town (_shicho_) is nominated by the minister for + home affairs from three men chosen by the town assembly. + + [12] The term _hyaku-sho_, here translated "working man," means + literally "one engaged in any of the various callings" apart from + military service. In a later age a further distinction was + established between the agriculturist, the artisan, and the trader, + and the word _hyaku-sho_ then came to carry the signification of + "husbandman" only. + + [13] A tent was simply a space enclosed with strips of cloth or silk, + on which was emblazoned the crest of the commander. It had no + covering. + + [14] The Japanese never at any time of their history used poisoned + arrows; they despised them as depraved and inhuman weapons. + + [15] The general term for commoners as distinguished from samurai. + + [16] The privilege at first led to great abuses. It became a common + thing to employ some aged and indigent person, set him up as the head + of a "branch family," and give him for adopted son a youth liable to + conscription. + + [17] Conscription without lot is thus the punishment for all failures + to comply with and attempts to evade the military laws. + + [18] Sons of officers' widows, or of officers in reduced + circumstances, are educated at these schools either free or at + reduced charges, but are required to complete the course and to + graduate. + + [19] Uniform does not vary according to regiments or divisions. There + is only one type for the whole of the infantry, one for the cavalry, + and so on (see UNIFORMS, NAVAL AND MILITARY). Officers largely obtain + their uniforms and equipment, as well as their books and technical + literature through the _Kai-ko-sha_, which is a combined officers' + club, benefit society and co-operative trading association to which + nearly all belong. + + [20] The term _maru_ subsequently became applicable to merchantmen + only, war-ships being distinguished as _kan_. + + [21] The reader should be warned that absolute accuracy cannot be + claimed for statistics compiled before the Meiji era. + + [22] The _yen_ is a silver coin worth about 2s.: 10 _yen_ = £1. + + [23] In addition to the above grant, the feudatories were allowed to + retain the reserves in their treasuries; thus many of the feudal + nobles found themselves possessed of substantial fortunes, a + considerable part of which they generally devoted to the support of + their former vassals. + + [24] The Bank of Japan was established as a joint-stock company in + 1882. The capital in 1909 was 30,000,000 _yen_. In it alone is vested + note-issuing power. There is no limit to its issues against gold or + silver coins and bullion, but on other securities (state bonds, + treasury bills and other negotiable bonds or commercial paper) its + issues are limited to 120 millions, any excess over that figure being + subject to a tax of 5% per annum. + + [25] The amounts include the payments made in connexion with what may + be called the disestablishment of the Church. There were 29,805 + endowed temples and shrines throughout the empire, and their estates + aggregated 354,481 acres, together with 1¾ million bushels of rice + (representing 2,500,000 _yen_). The government resumed possession of + all these lands and revenues at a total cost to the state of a little + less than 2,500,000 _yen_, paid out in pensions spread over a period + of fourteen years. The measure sounds like wholesale confiscation. + But some extenuation is found in the fact that the temples and + shrines held their lands and revenues under titles which, being + derived from the feudal chiefs, depended for their validity on the + maintenance of feudalism. + + [26] This sum represents interest-bearing bonds issued in exchange + for fiat notes, with the idea of reducing the volume of the latter. + It was a tentative measure, and proved of no value. + + [27] In this is included a sum of 110,000,000 _yen_ distributed in + the form of loan-bonds among the officers and men of the army and + navy by way of reward for their services during the war of 1904-5. + + [28] When war broke out in 1904 the local administrative districts + took steps to reduce their outlays, so that whereas the expenditures + totalled 158,000,000 _yen_ in 1903-1904, they fell to 122,000,000 and + 126,000,000 in 1904-1905 and 1905-1906 respectively. Thereafter + however, they expanded once more. + + [29] This includes 22¼ millions of loans raised abroad. + + [30] The problem was to induce the co-operation of a feudatory whose + castle served for frontier guard to the fief of a powerful chief, his + suzerain. The feudatory was a Christian. Nobunaga seized the Jesuits + in Kioto, and threatened to suppress their religion altogether unless + they persuaded the feudatory to abandon the cause of his suzerain. + + [31] The mutilation was confined to the lobe of one ear. Crucifixion, + according to the Japanese method, consisted in tying to a cross and + piercing the heart with two sharp spears driven from either side. + Death was always instantaneous. + + [32] See _A History of Christianity in Japan_ (1910), by Otis Cary. + + [33] The Imperial cities were Yedo, Kioto, Osaka and Nagasaki. To + this last the English were subsequently admitted. They were also + invited to Kagoshima by the Shimazu chieftain, and, had not their + experience at Hirado proved so deterrent, they might have established + a factory at Kagoshima. + + [34] _A History of Japan_ (Murdoch and Yamagata). + + [35] H.M.S. "Phaeton," which entered that port in 1808. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th +Edition, Volume 15, Slice 2, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41264 *** |