The Gist of Japan Part 5

The funeral customs are very different from ours. It is a strange feature of the native character that when one is deeply moved he is very likely to cover up his emotion with a laugh. If a man announces to you the death of his child, he will probably laugh as he does so.

At funerals there is not that solemn silence which we expect, but frequently loud talking and laughter. The coffin is a square, upright box with considerable ornamentation. The corpse is placed in it in a sitting posture. In j.a.pan are found the hired mourners of whom we read in the Bible. Anciently they were employed to follow the corpse, mourning in a loud voice; but that has become obsolete, and now they simply follow in the procession, wearing the white garments. The usual manner of disposing of dead bodies is by interment, but cremation is rapidly growing in favor. The government will not permit a body to be buried until it has been dead twenty-four hours.

For several weeks after a body has been interred it is customary for the members of the bereaved family to make daily visits to the tomb and present offerings to the departed spirit in the temple. {85} Each year, on the anniversary of the death, the children are expected to visit the tomb and worship the spirit of the departed. This custom of ancestor-worship is forbidden by Christianity, and hence the people charge us with teaching disrespect to parents and ancestors.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Hara-kiri.]

A custom peculiar to j.a.pan is a form of suicide known as hara-kiri, or "belly-cutting." From time immemorial, to take one's own life in this manner has been considered very honorable and has expiated all crimes and offenses. In olden times, if the life of any one of n.o.ble blood became hurtful to the state, he was simply sent a certain kind of short sword. This meant that he was to take his own life by the favorite national method. So the recipient quietly ate his last meal, bade his family farewell, and, seating himself squarely on the mat, deliberately thrust the sword into the left side of his abdomen, and drew it across to the right side. As this cut does not kill immediately, a retainer, from behind, placed there for that purpose, struck off his master's head with one blow of a heavy sword. In the eyes of the law this death atoned for all sins and offenses; hence it was often practised in old j.a.pan. It is almost obsolete now.

The j.a.panese are an exceedingly polite people. They have been called the Frenchmen of the Orient in recognition of this national characteristic. Politeness is exalted above everything, above {86} even truth and honor. If you ask an ordinary j.a.panese which is better, to tell a falsehood or be impolite, he will at once reply, "To tell a falsehood." But while the people are exceedingly polite, a large part of this politeness is merely surface, without any meaning. Etiquette requires that you always address and treat your equals as though they were your superiors. There is a separate form of address for each step in the social scale. I have seen j.a.panese men stand at a door for five minutes, and blush, and beg each other to pa.s.s through first, each hesitating to precede the other. A j.a.panese gentleman never stops to converse with a friend, be he only a child, without taking off his hat.

To look down upon one from a superior elevation is considered very impolite. Thus if the emperor or any one of especial distinction pa.s.ses through a city, all the upper stories of the houses must be vacated. Under no circ.u.mstances are any permitted to observe the procession from an upper window. I was out walking one day in our good city of Saga with a foreign friend who was leading his little boy by the hand. It happened that a countess was pa.s.sing through the city.

The policemen had cleared the street for the procession, and a large crowd was standing at the corner. We joined this crowd. The little boy could not see, so his father held him up that {87} he might look over the people's heads. At once the police forbade it and made him put the child down.

In many instances forms of politeness are carried to a ridiculous extreme. When you give a present, no matter how nice, you must apologize by saying that it is so _cheap_ and _insignificant_ that you are ashamed to _lift it up_ to the honorable person, but if he will _condescend_ to accept it he will make you very happy. If you receive a present you must elevate it toward the top of the head (as that is considered the most honorable part of the body) and at the same time say that it is the _most beautiful thing on earth_. When you are invited to a dinner the invitation will carefully state that no special preparation will be made for the occasion. At the beginning of the meal the hostess will apologize for presuming to set before you such mean, dirty food, and will declare that she has nothing whatever for you to eat, although she will doubtless have a feast fit for a king.

Even if it should not be good, you must say that it is and praise it extravagantly.

The greetings between friends are sometimes right funny. I have often overheard such conversations as the following. Two men meet in the street, and, taking off their hats, bow very low, and begin as follows:

_A_. "I have not had the pleasure of {88} hanging myself in your honorable eyes for a long time."

_B_. "I was exceedingly rude the last time I saw you."

_A_. "No; it was surely I who was rude. Please excuse me."

_B_. "How is your august health?"

_A_. "Very good, thanks to your kind a.s.sistance."

_B_. "Is the august lady, your honorable wife, well?"

_A_. "Yes, thank you; the lazy old woman is quite well."

_B_. "And how are your princely children?"

_A_. "A thousand thanks for your kind interest. The noisy, dirty little brats are well too."

_B_. "I am now living on a little back street, and my house is awfully small and dirty; but if you can endure it, please honor me by a visit."

_A_. "I am overcome with thanks, and will early ascend to your honorable residence, and impose my uninteresting self upon your hospitality."

_B_. "I will now be very impolite and leave you."

_A_. "If that is so, excuse me. _Sayonara_."

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V

j.a.pANESE CIVILIZATION

The question is often asked, Are the j.a.panese a civilized people? The answer will entirely depend upon our definition of civilization. If civilization consists in a highly organized commercial and industrial life, in the construction and use of huge, towering piles of manufactories and commercial houses, such as are seen in New York and Chicago, in ama.s.sing enormous capital, controlling the trade of the country by monopolies, and doing the work of the world by machinery that moves with the precision of clockwork, then j.a.pan is not yet civilized. But if civilization consists in a courteous, refined manner, in a calm enjoyment of literature and the arts, in an ability to live easily and comfortably with a due regard to all the amenities of life, then the j.a.panese are a civilized people.

A very brilliant writer on j.a.panese subjects[1] {90} has said that the j.a.panese have been a civilized people for at least a thousand years.

Chinese civilization was brought to j.a.pan early in the Christian era, and flourished for more than fifteen hundred years. While it differs much from European civilization, it is a highly organized and developed system, venerable with age. When people of the West speak of civilized countries they are apt to think of Europe and America, to the exclusion of all the rest of the world. This is unfair. Chinese civilization is much older than our own. Long before the dark ages of Europe the Chinese were living under a regular system of laws and were engaged in all peaceful pursuits. Systematic methods of agriculture, the art of printing, gunpowder, and the mariners' compa.s.s were all known and used.

While our own forefathers in northern Europe roamed the forests as wild men and dressed in skins, the Chinese were living quietly in cities and towns, dressed in silks. This venerable Chinese civilization was readily adopted in j.a.pan, and prevailed down to the time of the Restoration, in 1868. Since that time the adoption and a.s.similation of Western civilization have been progressing with a rapidity and success which have no precedent in the history of the world. The old immobile, crystallized Chinese civilization has been thrown off, and the vigorous, elastic forms of the West have been successfully {91} adopted. j.a.panese civilization of to-day is European, only with a national coloring.

[1] Lafcadio Hearn.

On the advice of an American missionary,[2] who was then president of the Imperial University, and who arranged the program for the expedition, in 1872 a committee of seventy intelligent j.a.panese gentlemen, many of them from the n.o.ble families, was sent to the West to visit the capitals of the several countries, examine into their forms of government and civilization, and, of all that they found, to choose and bring back with them what was best adapted to j.a.pan. This committee, after visiting Washington, London, Berlin, and other places, and carefully examining into their different inst.i.tutions, returned and reported to the government. From this time began the rapid adoption of Western civilization, which is still in progress.

[2] Dr. Verbeck.

Foreign employees have played an important part in this peaceful revolution. At first nearly everything that was adopted was under foreign superintendence; but the j.a.panese are such apt learners that they are now capable of managing this new civilization for themselves, and the foreign employees have been mostly dispensed with.

With this brief history of j.a.panese progress before us, let us now examine into the present condition of j.a.panese civilization.

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One of the best indicators of the civilization of a country is its literature. No writers of world-wide fame have arisen in j.a.pan, yet the country has a literature of which she is not ashamed. In ancient times the Chinese cla.s.sics were alone studied, and all literature was molded by Confucian ideas; to-day these models have been cast aside, and a school of young, independent writers has arisen, by whom history, political and moral science, botany, sociology, belles-lettres, and numerous other subjects are discussed with vigor and originality.

In the number of newspapers and magazines published j.a.pan can compare favorably with any country of equal size. The great dailies have not yet grown to such importance as those of America or England, but they already wield a mighty influence. Nearly every small town has its morning and its evening sheet. Even in our backward old town of Saga we have two very good dailies. There are a large number of able magazines published. Nearly every branch of learning has a magazine devoted exclusively to its interests, as is frequently the case in the West. The very existence of this innumerable mult.i.tude of newspapers and magazines shows that the j.a.panese are great readers.

The educational system in vogue is a good index of a nation's civilization. Perhaps no {93} nation of the West has a better organized and developed free-school system than has j.a.pan. Schools are found in every village and hamlet, and as all children of a prescribed age are required to attend, they are full to overflowing. The little round-faced, sleek-headed j.a.panese children swarm round them like bees.

There are four grades of schools: the primary lower, the advanced lower, the lower middle, and the higher middle. The lower schools are found everywhere; the higher ones only in the large towns and cities.

Of the higher middle schools (which correspond to our American colleges of middle grade) there are seven, distributed at various points over the empire. At the head of this whole system stands the Imperial University in Tokyo, which is itself the outgrowth of several colleges, and is largely modeled after the German universities. The lower schools are modeled after our American schools. Unfortunately, so large a part of the time of the school-children must be spent in studying Chinese characters that it takes about eight years to learn to read. What a pity that the awkward, antiquated system of Chinese writing is not abandoned! It seems that the native _kana_, of which there are about forty-eight, with a few of the more common Chinese characters, would answer all purposes; then the long years spent in studying Chinese could be devoted to other things, to {94} the immense advantage of the student. In the lower schools very little is studied except Chinese. In the middle schools the branches studied are just about what American youths study in the academies. Formerly considerable stress was laid upon the study of modern languages, and all students of the middle schools were required to study English and either French or German. But in recent years only English has been required, and it, even, is not studied so carefully as it was. Since the revision of the treaties the study of foreign languages seems to be on the increase.

The Imperial University compares very favorably with Western universities of the middle cla.s.s. It has six faculties, namely, law, medicine, literature, science, engineering, and agriculture. The medical department is under German influence; the others have professors of various nationalities, mostly English, German, and j.a.panese. The students number over 1000. The government has recently undertaken the establishment of another university in Kyoto. It also supports two higher normal schools, a higher commercial school, naval and military academies, fine-arts school, technical school, the n.o.bles'

school, the musical academy, and the blind and dumb school. Professor Chamberlain, of the Imperial University, says the leading idea of the j.a.panese government {95} in all its educational improvements is the desire to a.s.similate the national ways of thinking to those of European countries. In view of the difference between the East and the West, this is an enormous task; and great credit is due that brave body of educators who, fighting against fearful odds, are gradually accomplishing their purpose.

The j.a.panese are a nation of artists. Life in one of the most beautiful countries in the world has, to a rare degree, developed in them the love of the beautiful; and this has expressed itself in the various phases of national art. In general, j.a.panese art is pretty, but small, isolated, and lacking in breadth of view. Its chief use in former times was largely decorative, to paint a screen or a piece of porcelain, and the artists did this to perfection. As a nation the j.a.panese are very skilful with the pencil. Long writing of Chinese characters has given them a control of the pencil or crayon not commonly found among the people of the West. Drawing is taught in the schools, and every school-boy can draw pretty pictures. But in art, as in other things, the j.a.panese are frequently inconsistent, and show a haughty disregard of details. They excel in portraying nature.

The government of j.a.pan is progressive and enlightened. In reality it is an absolute monarchy, ruled by the "heaven-descended mikado." {96} The empire belongs to him by divine right, and none has ever disputed this. Unquestioning, implicit obedience is the duty of all subjects.

But the present emperor, who is a liberal-minded monarch, has graciously given his people a voice in the government. In 1889 the const.i.tution was promulgated, which laid the foundation for a new order of things. It established the Diet, consisting of two houses, and gave many rights to the people, including local self-government, within certain limits. The franchise is so limited in j.a.pan that a man must annually pay a stipulated amount of tax before he can either vote or run for office.

j.a.panese laws have for years been gradually approaching Western standards. The transition has been difficult and necessarily slow, but praise-worthy progress has been made. A code somewhat resembling the Code Napoleon is now the law of the land, and is being applied in the courts as fast as circ.u.mstances will permit. People coming from Europe or America will find that, in the main, the laws are not very different from those they have been accustomed to.

Nearly all the material expressions of an advanced civilization found at home are likewise met with in j.a.pan--good railways, steamboats, telegraphs, mails, electric lights, etc. It is often a surprise to the traveler from the West who has {97} read little about the country, and who expects only the rudest form of civilization, to find instead nearly all the conveniences to which he has been accustomed.

RAILWAYS.--j.a.panese railways are narrow gauge, and while in recent years the question of changing them to standard gauge has been agitated, nothing definite has been done. The narrow-gauge system seems fairly adequate to the present demand. The railways are modeled after those of England, and are miniature as compared with those thundering monsters that make the American valleys tremble with their tread. The coaches are much smaller than the American and are differently arranged, opening on the side instead of the end, pa.s.sage from one coach to another being precluded. There is no conductor to come around and disturb one with the continual cry of "Tickets!" The _punch, punch, punch_, so annoying to sensitive people, is not heard.

As the pa.s.senger leaves the station to enter the train his ticket is examined, and this ends the matter until he reaches his destination, when he must pa.s.s out through the station, where his ticket is taken by a polite official. One of the things that have most impressed me about the railroad service is the kindness and politeness of the officials, in striking contrast with the gruffness and incivility one often encounters in America.

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