THE JAPANESE DECALOGUE

Evening Star, Issue 14627, 25 July 1911, Page 5

THE JAPANESE DECALOGUE

There can be no doubt that the majority of tbe-e Japanese rules are nearer scientific exactitude thau the rules of Moses or than the ordinary practice of modern English, life. Here are the Japanese commandments: 1. Spend as much time as possible in tho open air. 2. Never eat meat more than once a day. 3. Take a very hut bath daily. 4. Wear rough, warm clothes. 5. Early to bed and early to rise. 6. Sleep at least six hours each night, and at most seven and a-half, in a dark room with open windows. 7. liest on the seventh day, and during that day do not read or write. 8. Avoid every expression of anger; never exercise the brain too much or i->o ion:;. ... 9. JJarry yearly; 'widows and widowers should remarry as soon as-possible. 10. Drink coffee aud tea in strictest moderation: do not smoke at all; and never touch alcohol in any form. 11. Avoid hot rooms, and, indeed, all rooms heated .- rUfieially. 12. In order to strengthen such orjrsius as may be weakened by age or use. nourish yourself on the corresponding organs of animals. Most of these precepts are excellent and of general, if not, of universal, accemance. Nos. 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,.9. 10, and even 11— that is, 9 out. of 'lie 12—can be regarded as couuse's of perfection for everyday use. On the other ham!, No. 12 is ni.itiit'esfiy childish; one does not strengthen the stomach by eating the stomach of a cow or a rabbit or hen, nor one's skin by eating the hide of bull or lamb. No. Vi may be rejected in tot 3, or left to Dr Browu-Sequard a.nd his benighted followers. No. 3 comes under a diilercut head. A few years ago it was tho practice of doctors in Kngland to recommend a cold tub daily. Prise-lighters aud athletes were the first, I believe," to modify tin unpleasant recommendation. They used massage and dry rubbing in preference to cold dips or douches. It may be laid down as an axiom (hat ail persons with weak circulation or feeble heart action, or those inclined to rheumatism, should eschew cold baths and inordinately bot baths, too, though these latter arc less likely to be injurious. No. 3, then, can be accepted in a geueral form: "Take a warm bath daily.'' or even more generally, "lake care to keep the pores of the ?kin open cither by friction or by bathing, or by both." N>>. 2 is also to be accepted with some modifications. [n northern climates it may be advisable for those who am'taking much bodily exercise to eat meat twice or even thrice a day—at any rate, in youth and early manhood. Hut in temperate climates the Jap ride is an excellent one even for young people, and as soon as a man or woman reaches 40 the. rule should be made more stringent. After 40 meat should only be eaten rarely—say twice or thrice a week — fish being substituted for it: and after 50 it will probably be found salutary to eschew meat altogether in the vast majority of cases. It will hardly be disputed that these Japanese precepts come much nearer the ideal code than the Hebraic Commandments. They are at once more reasonable, more salutary, and more natural, and because they are better suited to human nature they find more sanction in themselves and need less external or shall we say superhuman sanction ? They are not taken from the mouth of God by a great man and written on tables of stone; they are the slow inductions of many millions of I experiences, and are written perdurably in our human flesh. They are democratic and amiable too; they do not frame themselves as orders coming from above, but as advice and admonition from counsellors well disposed to men who regard human frailties with kindly, tolerant eyes.—Frank Harris, in ' The English Review.'