The Spell of Japan Part 12

It is very common to see children afflicted with skin-diseases. j.a.panese mothers believe that inborn wickedness comes out in this form. Since they no longer shave the children's heads as in the old days, however, the skin trouble is disappearing somewhat. Well-organized dispensaries and district nurses are certainly much needed in out-of-the-way villages, but no provision has as yet been made for such work. Midwives, however, are to be found.

The Episcopal hospital in Tokyo, where j.a.panese women are taught nursing, is supposed to be the best in the country. Dr. Teusler is doing excellent work there. The j.a.panese hospitals are not so well managed as the best foreign ones, and the training for women nurses is not so long or so thorough as in America. It is difficult for foreigners to judge their hospitals, because they are intended for j.a.panese patients and their whole manner of living is so different from ours. At first, on account of native customs, only the poorer cla.s.s of women could be induced to take up nursing as a profession, but to-day the better cla.s.s are engaging in it.

In no branch of medical work has j.a.pan made greater progress or achieved finer results than in the Red Cross. In 1877 the _Hakuaisha_ was formed--the Society of Universal Love--which cared for the wounded in the great civil war. j.a.pan joined the European Red Cross League in 1887.

The j.a.panese Red Cross was finely organized for service during the war with Russia. The first work was the care of the Russian sailors at Chemulpo, who were even presented with artificial limbs by the Empress of j.a.pan. During the war six thousand sick and wounded Russian prisoners were cared for by the j.a.panese. In return the Russians subscribed to the j.a.panese Red Cross. The women nurses remained at home stations, all relief detachments at the front consisting of men only, but on the relief ships there were both s.e.xes. An American nurse who was in j.a.pan during the war said we had many things to learn from the j.a.panese and few to teach, in the way of handling the wounded.

The pamphlet called, "The Red Cross in the Far East," states that if a member dies, his _hair_ or his _ashes_ with the death certificate and his personal belongings shall be forwarded to his former quarters.

The Red Cross in j.a.pan numbers now more than one million five hundred thousand members, has twelve hospitals and two hospital ships, and nearly four thousand doctors, apothecaries and nurses ready for service.

On her first voyage, the hospital ship _Kosai Maru_, was out from March, 1904, until December, 1905, and transported more than thirteen thousand patients. There are Red Cross stations also in Formosa and Port Arthur.

The Empress Dowager often attended the meetings of the society, and a.s.sisted with large contributions. The j.a.panese Red Cross is said to be the largest, the best and the richest in the world.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RED CROSS HOSPITAL BUILDINGS.]

To return to distinctively religious work, the time that I could myself give to the observation of missions was limited, but I saw something of the Episcopal work in Tokyo. Bishop McKim was absent most of the winter in the Philippines, but the Rev. Dr. Wallace, whom we had known in Honolulu years before, conducted the services. j.a.panese services were also held at the cathedral, and a school for native children was carried on by the mission. The bishop's house and that of Dr. Wallace, which were in the cathedral compound, were of brick and looked fairly comfortable.

As the lower cla.s.ses are decidedly emotional and are easily influenced by revival meetings, while the better cla.s.s naturally tend toward philosophy and other intellectual studies, there is room for Christian workers of different denominations. In actual numbers there are more of the Episcopalians than of any other Protestant denomination, as they include the English, Canadians, Australians and Americans. Next to these in number are the Presbyterians. There is a Unitarian mission conducted by the Rev. Dr. MacCauley, who has been there many years and whom we knew well. The Baptists are prominent in Yokohama. The American Board missionaries--the Congregationalists--I have been told, do the best work.

A very kindly spirit exists among them all, but they could economize greatly if they worked even more in union. Each mission, for instance, has its j.a.panese secretary, because of the difficulty of the language, but if they combined, they could do with fewer secretaries, and could also have j.a.panese teachers for j.a.panese subjects. A few big, broad-minded men--like Dr. Greene, who was looked up to by every one--who were men of affairs as well as clergymen, could do much good by acting as the heads of the missions and directing the j.a.panese Christians, somewhat as is done in the stations of the American Board.

Right here I wish to pay my tribute to the beautiful life and the great work of the Rev. Dr. Greene, whose death last September left the American Board mission poorer for his loss. Dr. Greene and his wife went to j.a.pan in 1869, when the government edict banning Christianity was still in force. They lived to see the country under a const.i.tutional government, with a modern system of education and full religious liberty. Dr. Greene was a missionary statesman; he was the intimate friend of Count Ok.u.ma and other j.a.panese leaders. As teacher, author, translator of the New Testament, and president of the Asiatic Society, he did a varied work. A few months before his death the Emperor conferred upon Dr. Greene the Third Cla.s.s of the Order of the Rising Sun, the highest decoration awarded to civilians residing in j.a.pan.

A work frequently overlooked is the service rendered in translation and the compilation of dictionaries. When Dr. Hepburn, to whom I have already referred, reached j.a.pan in 1859, immediately after establishing his dispensary, he began the preparation of a j.a.panese-English dictionary, and as he had previously lived for several years in China, he was able to make rapid progress. In 1867 he brought out his great lexicon, which was published in Shanghai, because printing from metal type was not then done in j.a.pan. When an invoice of it arrived in Yokohama, "Two worlds, as by an isthmus, seemed to have been united....

As a rapid feat of intellect and industry, it seemed a _tour de force_, a Marathon run." Later, Dr. Hepburn a.s.sisted in translating the Bible into j.a.panese. For all his work--as physician, lexicographer, translator of the Bible--and especially for his n.o.ble character, he was known in j.a.pan as "_Kunshi_," the superior man. Engraved on his tombstone are the words, "G.o.d bless the j.a.panese."

The following statistics, given out recently by the j.a.panese Bureau of Religion, are interesting as showing the number of adherents to each of the great faiths:

Christians, 140,000 Buddhists, 29,420,000 Believing Buddhists, 18,910,000 Shintoists, 19,390,000 Believing Shintoists, 710,000 Temples with priests, 72,128 Temples without priests, 37,417

The discrepancy between the number of "believing Shintoists" and Shintoists is explained when we remember that all persons in government employ--military and naval officers, officials in the civil service, and teachers in government schools--must be nominal Shintoists, even though they are Buddhists at heart.

I cannot better close this chapter than by giving the opinions of a few representative people of different faiths and nationalities upon the subject of missions in j.a.pan.

Professor Masumi Hino of Doshisha University, _a Christian j.a.panese_, gives reasons why none of the old faiths will meet the needs of j.a.pan to-day. He says, "Shinto stands for polytheism, which in j.a.pan stands side by side with skepticism and religious indifference." He credits Confucianism with teaching "fair and square dealings with every man,"

but adds, "It nevertheless fails to meet the people's yearning after the eternal values." Buddhism will also, he believes, "fail to be the supreme spiritual force in j.a.pan," because it does not attach sufficient importance to ethical teaching; because it sinks the individual in "the absolute and the whole;" and because its belief in immortality is "based on the pessimistic view of life."

Professor Hino acknowledges his own debt and that of the j.a.panese people to all three religions, but questions whether any of these can meet the pressure of twentieth-century life and problems. For himself he believes Christianity alone "is able to meet the demands of the coming generation in j.a.pan."

Mr. E. J. Harrison, _a resident of j.a.pan for fourteen years_, says in his book, "The Fighting Spirit of j.a.pan":

"I venture the opinion merely for what it may be worth, but that opinion is, that those who flatter themselves that the day will ever dawn when the j.a.panese as a people will profess Christianity imagine a vain thing, and are pursuing a will-o'-the-wisp. They will dabble in Christianity as they have dabbled and are dabbling in numerous other 'anities,' 'isms,'

and 'ologies'; but the sort of Christianity which will ultimately be evolved in j.a.pan will have very little in common with its various prototypes of the Occident." Most people residing in j.a.pan for any length of time agree with Mr. Harrison.

Then there is the _missionary opinion_. As recently as August 22, 1913, Rev. Dr. Greene wrote from Tokyo:

"Everything points to an increased appreciation of the place of religion in human life. The rapid headway which the more spiritual philosophy of the West, as represented by Bergson and Eucken, is making among the thoughtful men of j.a.pan, including the young men of the universities, suggests much promise. Professor Anezaki, head of the department of Comparative Religion in the Imperial University of Tokyo, said not long ago that the students were weary of the materialism still propagated by certain of the older j.a.panese thinkers, and were seeking guidance of younger men imbued with the more recent philosophical thought.

"If the Christian leaders will but put themselves in harmony with this deep-flowing stream, they may well indulge the brightest hopes."

At a special gathering of public men in Tokyo in 1913, when evangelistic preachers from America were present, Baron Sakatani, the Mayor, although _not a Christian himself_, said:

"You men of the West owe us a lot. Your civilization has come in and broken down very largely the old faiths of j.a.pan. We are looking for a new and better one. You owe it to us to help us find something to take the place of that which we have lost."

A year or two ago, the Minister of Education, who is _not a Christian_, called a conference of Buddhists, Shintoists and Christians, at which he said, "What j.a.pan needs is more vital religion, and I ask each of you to become more in earnest in bringing your faith to bear upon the lives of our people."

CHAPTER X

PROSE, POETRY AND PLAYS

The j.a.panese are true story-tellers, and for centuries their folklore has been pa.s.sed down by word of mouth. The stories which Madame Ozaki, Pasteur and others have so cleverly translated into English are a great delight to me, many of them are so full of humour, pathos and charm.

They fall into three characteristic types:--stories of the unreal world, legends of the great warriors of feudal days, and tales of love. Instead of trying to describe them I will give an example of each in condensed form.

Fairy tales play an important part in the literature of the people, and, except possibly the Norwegian, I think none compare with those of j.a.pan.

They have a strange and fascinating quality which specially distinguishes them from ours--they deal with imps and goblins, with devils, foxes and badgers, with the grotesque and supernatural, instead of the pretty dancing fairies, the good fairies that our children know.

"The Travels of the Two Frogs," from the charming version in Mr. William Elliot Griffis' "Fairy Tales of Old j.a.pan," is given here in condensed form.

THE TRAVELS OF TWO FROGS

Once upon a time there lived two frogs--one in a well in Kyoto, the other in a lotus pond in Osaka, forty miles away. Now in the Land of the G.o.ds they have a proverb, "The frog in the well knows not the great ocean," and the Kyoto frog had so often heard this sneer from the maids who came to draw water with their long bamboo-handled buckets that he resolved to travel and see the "great ocean."

Mr. Frog informed the family of his intentions. Mrs. Frog wept a great deal, but finally drying her eyes with her paper handkerchief she declared that she would count the hours on her fingers until he came back. She tied up a little lacquered box full of boiled rice and snails for his journey, wrapped it round with a silk napkin, and putting his extra clothes in a bundle, swung it on his back. Tying it over his neck, he seized his staff and was ready to go.

"_Sayonara!_" cried he, as with a tear in his eye he walked away--for that is the j.a.panese for "good-bye."

"_Sayonara!_" croaked Mrs. Frog and the whole family of young frogs in a chorus.

Mr. Frog, being now on land and out of his well, noticed that men did not leap, but walked upright on their hind legs, and not wishing to be eccentric he began walking the same way.

Now about the same time, an old Osaka frog had become restless and dissatisfied with life on the edge of a lotus pond. Close by the side of his pond was a monastery full of Buddhist monks who every day studied their sacred rolls and droned over the books of the sage, to learn them by heart. Now the monks often came down to the edge of the pond to look at the pink and white lotus flowers. One summer day, as a little frog, hardly out of his tadpole state, with a fragment of tail still left, sat basking on a huge round leaf, one monk said to another, "Of what does that remind you?" "That the babies of frogs will become but frogs!" answered one shaven-pate, laughing; "What think you?"

"The white lotus springs out of the black mud," said the other solemnly, and they both walked away.

The old frog, sitting near-by, overheard them and began to philosophize: "Humph! the babies of frogs will become but frogs, hey? If the lotus springs from mud, why shouldn't a frog become a man? If my pet son should travel abroad and see the world--go to Kyoto, for instance--why shouldn't he be as wise as those shining-headed men, I wonder? I shall try it, anyhow. I'll send my son on a journey to Kyoto--I'll cast the lion's cub into the valley!"

Now it so happened that the old frog from Kyoto and the "lion's cub" from Osaka started each from his home at the same time.

Nothing of importance occurred to either of them until they met on a hill near Hashimoto, which is half-way between the two cities. Both were footsore and websore, and very, very tired.

"_Ohio!_" said the lion's cub to the old frog, by way of good morning, as he fell on all fours and bowed his head to the ground three times.

"_Ohio!_" replied the Kyoto frog.