PATRIOTISM OF JAPANESE WOMEN.

Bush Advocate, Volume XXI, Issue 284, 4 June 1909, Page 5

PATRIOTISM OF JAPANESE WOMEN.

If not before, but certainly from the time when Florence Nightingale set her sisters such a glorious example in the dark days of the Crimea, British women have never failed to show their patriotism at a time of a great national crisis, sucli as the recent South African Campaign; but in no other ■country in the world are • the women actuated by such an intense spirit of .patriotism as they ' arein "The Land of the Rising Sun." During the late war with Russia, practically every Japanese woman, from Empress to geisha/ girl, contributed something towards relieving the ; suffering and distress -of the troops, while over 15,000 women, volunteered to go io the front to assist in the field hospitals. The Empress herself , set a splendid example, being frequently seen in Tokio visiting the great military hospitals, accompanied by a party of court ladies and noblemen's wives, or interesting hex^ self on I>ehalf of some family whom war had deprived of the bread-win-ner. Years ago Japanese women demonstrated their -patriotism 'in .even more emphatic manner. In the feudal 'times,, which came- to an end in Japan a little over forty years ago, all gentlewomen were trained ,in the use of the sword and lance.;. The women of the samurai (military) class received a regular martial training, and if the castle of a daiiiiio, of';ter-; V ■ritorial noble was besieged- they •'■jvere capable of assisting in the defence if necessary.