«THE SOUL OF JAPAN."

Otago Witness, Issue 2677, 5 July 1905, Page 71

«THE SOUL OF JAPAN."

By Ktjra Doi, of the Congregational Jap a nese and Chinese Mission. "Bushido! What in the world does il mean? Is it Greek or Sanscrit? Cer tainly it is different from 'Jiu-jitsu.' W< must refer the matter to Brother Jona '"than." Such might be the inevitable con jecture at the first sight of the word. Bui . as I fear .you cannot find Brother Jonathan, + a.century having passed since he lived or r earth, I advise you to refer the puzzle tc *- the booklet" itself. It is called the , ''Bushido,'' vcrv cleverly and fascinatingly •: expounded by Dr Ihago "Nitobe. In a . nutshell the significance of it is —the soul {, of Japan. When our country, Japan (for I speak I from the Japanese standpoint), gained thtu i remarkable victory in the war with China in 1894-95, soon after our land appeared on the eastern horizon, some were amazed. While her admirable exploits of those years " still fresh in the memory of the - Westerners, Japan- again rose, this time - against- that preponderating foe, the Russian, to arrest his^tealthy and plunder- • ing policy in the Ear East. And with what result? It is one of - the glories of our country to have successfully repelled tbe invader who has ■ again and again trampled over the rich soil of As^ia. China was not one of the " "Powers," perhaps, but not so Russia! • It was Russia's army that gave a crushing blow to the audacious army of Napo- , leonf It was Russia's mighty army that fought against the combined armies of Europe in the Crimean war! Her arrogance and confidence of "crushing Japan +o the sand" was not entirely a dream, for tistorv proved her power. , With that powerful army of Russia in battle array what could have beaten her? It is not the better rifles, cannon, and modern scientific instructions of the army of our country that have gained our victories. Ido not mean that these superiorities, if such iliey were, do not count much in the battle, but "Does ever a piano." says Dr Nitobe, "be it of the _ choicest workmanship of Erard or Stanley, burst forth into the rhapsodies of . Liszt or the sonatas cf Beethoven without a master hand?" Or if guns win battles, „■ "why. did not Louis -Napoleon beat the • Prussians with his Mitrailleuse, or the . Spaniards with their Mausers beat the ; Filipinos, whose arms were no better than ■ the old-fashioned Remingtons? "Needless to repeat what has grown a trite saying, that in is the spirit that quickeneth, without which the best of implements profiteth but little. The most improved guns and cannon do not shoot of their own accord ; the most modern educational system does not make a- coward a nero. ''That which won the battle on the Yaiu. in Korea and Manchuria, was the \ghosts,-of oxir fathers, guidine: our hands and beating in our hearts. They are not 'dead, those ghosts, the spirits of our warlike ancestors. To those who have eyes to See they are clearly visible.'' And Lafcadio Hearn says: "It is probably the mast profound and powerful of the emotions of the race —that which especially directs national life and shapes national character. Patriotism belongs to it. Loyalty is based upon it. The soldier . who, to make a- path for his comrades . through the battle, deliberately flings away his life obeys the will and hears the .approval of invisible witnesses." That 'spirit, that quickeneth"' and the "invisible witnesses'' are the soul of Japan (the Yamato Damashii). It found its _ iiisrhest development in the lives of the military knights, whose number reached 2.000,000.50u15, the samurai of feudal days, whose code of . jjreccpts formed the Bushfdo. Tn the Bushido, then, the philosophy of our victory lives. In short, the wonderful qourage and patriotism shown by the lYLikado's, army is an offspring of the Bushido.- It perhaps fills the same positions™ the history of Japanese ethics that . the English constitution does in English political history. Of this Yamato Damashii. Matoori has sung as follows, and every disciple of the Bushido heartily sings: Isles of blest Japan! Should your Yamato sphifc Strangers seek to%scorn, Say —scenting morn's sunlit air, Blows the cherry wild and fair. The cherry for ages has been the favourite of our people and the emblem of our character. . The words, "the wild cherry flower, scenting the morning sun," that the poet uses points cut that the Yamato spirit is not a tame, tender plant, but a wild — in the sense of natural —growth ; whose colour is neither too gorgeous nor whose j fragrance palls, yet lacks not beauty ; ai:d j is ever ready to' depart life at the call of ! Nature. —Sources of Bushido. — » It may be aptly said that Bushido is "Japanicised Confucianism," for Japan was largely Confucian in its constitution. "But Shintoism (the national religion of our country), Buddhism, and Menciasm furnished no less germs or elements. As to strictly ethical .loctrinei, the teachers of Confucius were the most prolific cource of Bus'hido. Buddhism furnished a sense of calm trust in fate, a quiet submission to „th' 9 inevitable, that stoical composure in face of danger or calamity, that disdain of '•life and friendliness with death. And tho tenets of Shintoism furnished that patriotism and loyalty so marked as characteristics of the Japanese people. Thus, these elements i'^vrnt/1 a religion —like national instinct and race feelir.g, but it is not a systematic .philosophy nor a rational theology, but is "•onsidered more as an impulse than as a doctrine. —As an Ethical System. — "Chivalry is a flower no less indigenous \o the soil iri Japan tli&n its emblem, the

' cherry blossom," says Dr Nitobe, "nor is il a dricd-up specimen of an antique vhiue pieserved in the herbarium of our history. It is still a living object of power and beauty aamos'n s ' us : and if it assumes no tangible shape or form, it not the less scents the moral atmosphere, and makes us aware that we are still under its potent spell. The condition of society which brought it forth and nourished it have long disappeared ; but as those far-off stars which once vere, and are not, still continue to shed their rays upon us, so tho light of chivalry, which wa3 a child of feudalism, still illuminates our n"oral path, surviving its mother institution. " The Japanese word which I have roughly rendered 'chivalry ' is in tho original iporo expressive thaa 'horsemanship.' Bu-shi-da means literally 'military knight ways,' the ways whick fighting nobles should observe in their vocations : in a word, the precepts of knighthood, the -noblesse oblige of tha warrior .class. " Bushido,<fchen, is cod© of moral principles which the knights M-ere required or instructed to observe. It is not a written cede ; at least it consists of a few maxims handed down from the pen of some v/ell-known -warrior or savant. Mora frequently it is a code unuttered and unwritten, possessing all the more tha powerful sanction of veritable deed, and of a law written on the tablets of tlis heart." Not only is Bushido the precepts of the samurais, but of the gentlemen also. Bushido, begin* at first as the glory of th« elite, became in time an aspiration and inspiration of the nations at large, that thoroughly permeated the national life. IL principally emphasised the duty of loyalty and courage, fortitude, justice, benevolence, ' politeness, veracity, honour, self-control, patience, and simplicity. Mr Clement says : "Ono of its most powerful principles was giri (right reason), which is difficult to translate or define, but comes pretty close to what Americans call 'duty' or 'the right.' This* still maintains a potent influence in New , _ I may bs permitted to add that its relation to our a?sth>eticQsense was, also, one of the distinctive features of the feudal virtues, making a symmetrical arch with ! tho loyalty and patriotism. The following quotations from a peem written by General Nogi, conqueror, of Port Arthur, ,comlueonorative of the capture of "203" Metre Hill, is strikingly appropriate at this time : How arduous must be the climbing of Ni-Rei-San, But man's ambition expecta to surmount great difficulties, i The wor.l " ambition " in the pt-em is expressed in a native woru "komei," which means "fame," or "honour. ' This feature of the Bushido reminds me of what Carlyl-2 has expressed — namely, "Shams is the soil of all virtue, of good manners and good morals." Thf> relations of tha Bushido to our assthetic seise is indeed a close one. Of the loyalty and patriotism of the Japanese people, you have, I am sure, had a-bandant piooi. " , A thousand years of happy reign be thine ; Rule on. my 'lord, till -what are .pebbles now, By ages united, to .mighty recks shall grow, Whose venerable sides the moss cloth line. I This is the hymn that all tho sons and daughters of our country heartily sing ""in all tho pride of songo." Why are wo so patriotic? Because our country is more than land and soil to vs — ifc is the- sacred abode of the gods, the spirits of our forefathers. My belief is that as long as tbe naire of nations exist, co the national conception -ct ill remain and hs honourable as ever. It is a matter of profound regret that many foreigners maka too hasty criticism of the "Japanese courage and fortitude," for the institutions and cvstoms of thy Japana?e p-eople are peculiarly their own, and therefore in the light cf until- OAvn principles they ought to "be

jidgcd. , At the first, many of the foreigners praised the cfaivalious acts of the Japanese to the highest, degree. Then gradually there arose fear of the Japanese, especially by thoso nationalities that were cfraid that their Far Eastern policy might be destroyed by the victory of our country — and so, finally, they began to criticise vs. They have gone so far as to characterise the Japanese courage as the "Oriental fearless- | nfss," -'the "Oriental fatalism," and even have colled us "nerveless." '

But is it so? "Perceiving what is right," , says Confucius, "and doing it not, arguss lack of courage." This epigram can be put into a, positive statement, and it runs "courage is doing what is right." Among samurais courage was scarcely deemed worthy to be counted among virtues, unless ' it was exercised in the cause o9 righteousnass. Hero I may b3 permitted 1o quota ' from an articio written by Shaku Soyen on rlie present war, "-which says just what I desire to say : " '

"War against evils must be unflinchingly prosecuted till we attain the final aim. Tba firm conviction of the justice of her course has endowed her with an indomitable courage, and she is determined to carry the struggle to tlit, bitter end." True, how courageously and valorously our men fought around that superbly defended fortress of Port Arthur, and can- j tured Liao-yang — an almost impregnable position ! And will you call the courageous . men "fatalists?" Will Americans call their courageous forefathers who fell in the ' battles of 130 years ago "fatalists"'? j It is now high time for me to mention whether the stoicism of the Bushido taught or caused to harden or stiffen the hearts of ihe samurais or of the Japanese people, j and so to point out that the "stoicism" j of th-e Bushido does not mean that it is "nervelessness." I wish to call attention to tho following instances, of which the former is of feudal Japan (from the ' "Bushido") and the latttcr is of modern Japan. i "In that terrible battla of Suma-uoura \ (1184 a.d.), one of the most decisive in our history, he (Kumagaye) oveitook an enemy, and in single combat hr.d him (Tiara-no Atsumori) in the clutch of his , gigantic arms. Now the etiquette of war required that on siick occasions no blooti

i should be spilt, unless the weaker party : proved to be a man of rank or ability equal to that of the stronger. The grim combatant would have the name of tho man under him ; but he refusing to make it known, his helmet was ruthlessly torn off, when the sight of a juvenile face, fair and beardless, made the astonished knight release his hold. Helping the youth to his feet, in faternal tone ho bade the stripling go. 'Off, young prince, to thy mother's side The sword of Kumagaye shall never be tarnished by a drop of thy blood. Haste and flee o'er yon pass before thy enemies come in sight.' The young >' warrior refitted to go, and begged Kumagaye, for tho honour of both, to dispatch him on the spot. "Above- rh» hoary head of the veteran gleams the cold blade, which many a tim« before has sundered the cords of life, but his stout heart quails ; there flashes ■thwait his mental eye the vision of his [ uvrn boy, wlw this self -same day marched to the sound of bugle to try his maiden arms ; the strong hand of the warrior 1 quivers ; again he begs his victim to flee for his life. Finding all his entreaties vain, and hearing th-e approaching steps of his -comrades, he exclaims : 'If thou art overtaken, thou mayesi fall at a more ignoble hand than mine. O, thou infinite ! receive his soul !' In an instant the .sword flashes in the air, and when it falls it is red with adolescent blood. "When the war is ended we find our soldier returning in triumph, but little cares he now for honour or fame ; he renounces his warlike career, shaves his head, dons a priestly garb, devotes the ( rest of his days to holy pilgrimage, never turning his back to the west, where lies the paradise whence salvation comes and whither the sun hastes daily for his rest." Let critics point out flaws in this story if they will. Nevertheless it shows that tenderness, pity, and love were traits which adorned the most sanguinary ex- j ploits of a samurai. 1 In the present war, on the 14th of August last, the Russian Vladivostock fleet on the way to Port Arthur to join the . fleet there met our Kamimura's fleet in i the strait of Korea, and in the tinkling of an eye that terrific battle ensued between the leviathans, and tho Rurik, unfortunately for the Russians, began to sink. And in the thick of the battle, quickly our crew went to their assistance, , and sa^ed* nearly all of its erew — the crew of the Rurik, of the enemy. The Russians, i who profess to be Christians, pitilessly massacred the marines and administrative officials en board the Hitachi and Sado, and others. A thousand of unarmed men on the vessels were cut to pieces by the machine-gun fire, and, finally, came the murderous torpedoes. These two simple instances, I hope, will help you to judge for yourself whether the knighthood o^ Japan lacks the highest of a^l the attributes of the human soul. The history of our country, old and new, is full of such instances. I am apfry that | our country is unfortunate enough never to i:ave had a Shakespeare to express our feeling. -r-With Womankind. — • Before I begin to close I wish to insert a few linos treating upon what Bushido had to do with womankind. The Bushido ideal of womanhood was pre-eminently domestic, but I would not deny that there was amazonian traits in the fair sex of feudal Japan. However, the woman surrendered herself to the good of the home and family,. just as man to the good of his lord and country. Thus man and woman were quite imbued with the spirit of selfsacrifice, which was one of the strong principles of the Bushido. The sweetness of disposition and gentleness of manner of the wives of the samurais were, too, indeed, an admirable virtue of theirs, just as were the nobleness and chivalrousness of tbeir husbands. Bushido was, of course, primarily intended for the men of the nation, but it naturally influenced the women no less, and above all things they were inspired with the spirit of loyalty ■or love of the land. The women of our country have that heritage of the ideal womanhood of the Bushido — the virtue of the knighthood. I hope I have pointed out that Bushido, the precepts of knighthood, was, and still is, an animating spirit, the motor force of

our country. Will these j>hychological elements which constitute our national character survive hereafter? I have shown that it has until this day survived, and can assuredly prophesy that it will, as longas there is Yamato. True, our country is in the transition stage, and fast becoming a "modern nation," but its guiding principle and the formative force of the new era will stilt" be of the Bushido. The makers of modern Japan, who played great part in the restoration of our country were

men who were taught only the precepts of ' knighthood — Bushido. The youngster of I New Japan, whether statesmen or warrior, is still guided by that far-off star of the ! Bushido. It is dead as a system ; but !as a viitue it is not. Instilled by decades and centuries, it will survive forever, '. unless our land ceases to exist. "Bushido, • the soul of our country, I honour thee with crowns," will be our tribute. . Let me not forget to pay my sincere tiibute to Christianity in the ' true sense of its founders, to which j honour is due, in the making of Now Japan. I am not unaware of what Christianity is, and would not belittle its merit, but I am now writing of Bushido j alone, pure and simple, and I liust that j I would be pardoned for ray seeming n-e-glect of the influence of Christianity. I The meaning of Bushido, higher than , mountains, deeper than sea — I have but touched an iota of it-> suiface.