ARMS OR DEMOCRACY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12572, 8 March 1919, Page 4

ARMS OR DEMOCRACY.

JAPAN AND HER DESTINY. WHAT REGIME WILL 1 FINALLY EVOLVE? (By MYRA C. HAYNES.) Japan, uith its 162,000 square miles of territory, and its 56,650,000 inhabi-t-antSj tv..tii tho waters of tho Pacific washing upon its shores, is, to appropriate John of Gaunt’s death-bed eulogy— A precious Btano set in the silver sea Which serves it in the office of a wall. Japan! The mer 4 word strikes upon the chords of thought and fleeting pictures of the country pass across our mmd; we see it in all its picturesqueness and pageantry—with its cherry blossoms its kimonos, its fetes, its festivals. But do wo think of the darker side of the nation’s life? Do we realise that for centuries the majority of the people existed in tho midst of crime and unenlightonment, ground down hy the despotism of the Fujiwavas, the Shoguns and the Gians, deprived of thought and reason hy the religion of Mikadoism, wliich has been thrust upon them ? WIDER, LIFE SOUGHT. To-day. gropingly, their hands go out, seeking n wider, freer, better life—their national conscience is awakening, democracy and socialism are raising their heads, and one wonders what regime will finally evolve. Mliy is it that, while her material and commercial prosperity are increasing with almost alarming rapidity, Japan is constitutionally, according to European standards at any rate, so retrogressive? Why is the theory of Mikadoism, with all its attendant beliefs, not discredited in Japan and Europe? It behoves us to know something of the nation which, quietly and courageously, played her part during the past four years of turmoil. According to orthodox Japanese history, the Empire was founded in 660 B.C. by Jimmu Tor.no, who was tho grandson of the Sun Goddess. ' Upon him devolved the task of unifying the known parts of islands and of bringing the “barbarians” under his sway. Since that time, orthodox history relates, the Imperial power has descended in an unbroken lino —the accession oath of a new monarch being—“ Having by the virtues of the glories of our ancestors ascended the throne of a lineal succession, unbroken for ages eternal’’ —and so on- It is difficult to trace tho history of the people from the accession of Jimmu Tenno through the Dark and Middle Ages—all is shrouded in legend and mystery, but we gather that the country was gradually organised, the rulers lost much of their authority, and finally civil power was absorbed into the hands of the Fujiwara family, while the direction of military matters was entrusted to an official called the Shogun. Inevitably these two powers came into conflict, with the result that by 1184 all power, both civil and military, was concentrate'! in the hands of the Shogunate, which, until tho Restoration oi 1863, was tho sole administrative body in. the country. During this ago there were three authorities in Japan:— THREE AUTHORITIES, I- Ihe Emperor, who lived in state at Kyoto, whose power was naught, and who at the risk of lile and liberty chose the succeeding Shoguns. The sentiment of tho people towards him was entirely religious. 2. The Shogun, who ruled the country through his council from Yedo, and who was loured hy all. 3. 1 he Daimio—the feudal chiefs, overlords of tile townspeople and the serfs. The sentiment of the people towards them was one of complete loyalty-. Under the compulsory system ot tendahsm which bad been established the Daimio were prevented from becoming all-powerful by an extraordinarily perfect spy system, and by the imposition of heavy taxes and dues. If any Daimio were becoming dangerously wealthy,_ the Shogun would invite himself to dine with the plutocrat, who, to do honour to the guest, would be expected to ruin himself. At its best, the Shogunate maintained peace and order and effectively ruled the country. The artisans and the peasantry were encouraged by tho development of arts, crafts and agriculture. The feudal aristocracy-, to keep, them from mischief, wore recommended to the study of literature ; and, although the two outstanding features of tho period, politically, were (1) the impotence of the Sovereign; (2) an absence of a spirit of patriotism, the country was orderly and the masses were, at least, no more unhappy and wretched than they liad been previously. But in the middle of the nineteenth century the Government collapsed, the elaborate system of espionage broke down beneath its own weight, the many official institutions created decay within themselves, absence of criticism created laxnoss of discipline; and the extraordinary thing is, not that the system crumbled, but that a political system could flourish for six centuries without a philosophy to support it. Every political regime must have a philosophical system behind it. Repro-sontative government, for example, is based upon tho idea of popular freedom. At tho moment when tho Shoguns wore tottering to their fall beneath the weight of their despotism, the Mite philosophers, the earliest reasonors of modern Japan, gave to their country a much needed philosophical system. They were joined ny the Court gentlemen of the Emperor’s household who wished to ho ro-

stored to power; by the Shinto priests, who hoped for predominance over the Buddhist priests; and when the warlike Daimio from the districts of Satsuma and Choshu joined their ranks the philosophical system became the basis of a revolutionary movement. AMERICA’S ENTRY. At this critical moment America opened Japan to the world. The Daimio appealed to the nation to throw off the foreigners, revived the fiction of the divine descent of the Emperor, rallied the people to their side, and the Shoguns, Who would have made terms with the foreigners, were forced to resign. The feudal leaders from Satsuma, Choshu and Hizen usurped the Government with every intention of following an aggressive military policy abroad; they had been fighting races since the middle ages. Thus, through very clever political opportunism came about the so-called Restoration of 1868, The name and authority of the Emperor were used to cover the acts of the usurpers in their fight for unity against the Shoguns. The capital was removed from Kyoto to Yedo, which was then renamed Tokyo; the Mikado was brought out of his seclusion and hedged about once again with his divinity and the tyranny of custom,'the people were told that “ The Alik ado is the of the country in religion and in administration, because he is the descendant of Jimmu Tenno, who was the grandson of the Sup-goddess. He can do no wrong. Hear him and obey, otherwise he guilty of sacrilege, blasphemy and high treason.” The power of the throne was all important—the Emperor merely a figurehead. The clan leaders ruled tiro country, advancing always their own interests, rarely those of the mass of the people. HOW A STATE WAS BUILT. The supreme work of the usurping statesmen has been the welding or Japan from a disintegrated mass of petty feudalities into a closely knit State—no mean achievement, surely. Japan has developed from a practically unknown island to a State whose influence will be immense tin the world politics of the future. Naturally, with the abolition of feudalism came move-ments-—feeble and timid it is true, but withal an awakening—for the recognition of the rights or the people—as a palliative a group of clever statesmen, under the leadership of Ito, secretly drew up a constitution, founded on that of the German Empire, which Ito had visited; and the document was presented to the people as an Imperial gift. The nation was deluded into the belief that it was receiving constitutional rights, whereas in reality, all power was given into the hands of an oligarchy, while the • people were as helpless as before. Because a vast' majority of the masses were apathetic, and because they dared not criticise an Imperial gift, they have lived since 1889. until a few years ago, in a fool’s paradise, believing that they possessed powers which they had not. The Diet is subsidiary in everything to the Throne, which is, of course, dominated by the clan leaders—as one writer put it, “ The principal duty of the Japanese people, under the Constitution, is to elect representatives to say ‘ Yes ’ to the Government.” 1 REFORM COMES SLOWLY. Mikodoism ■within limits was beneficial to the country. Carried to extremes it has been productive of evil. Thought and reason among the people have been suppressed. The welfare of the teeming thousands of citizens is thrust into the background. Bureaucracy is the keystone of the official educational institutions. The merest hint of Socialisem is crushed, with vigour. But reform is coming through slowly. Inquiry has been started into the legality of .Mikado worship. Surely in this age there can be no continuance of the present conditions of downtrodden masses existing in poverty and ignorance. Militarism has for the present captured the various political institutions and silenced the demand for constitutional reform and popular government. The minds of the people have been filled with the thought of military conquests, of the absorption of Formosa in 1894, of Liaotung Peninsula in 1905, of Korea in 1910, and of the establishment of a protectorate over South Manchuria in 1915. Tlie lack of domestic political progress has seemed of little importance. To the world at lavp,e, and to China and Australia in particular, this growth of military power is alarming, but there are but few of the original clan statesmen alive, and..they are old. With their passing will come a new era. It is obvious that the system of government established in 1889 has in it elements of danger, and even now Japan is preparing for constitutional changes as great as those in England in the eighteenth century. Even now Japan is at the cross roads—which way will she take? Will the clan despotism be overthrown and another regime equally arbitrary be established? Will the constitution and the Diet be abolished and a system of absolute and autocratic monarchy be reverted to: or null the people, enlightened somewhat by education and Western civilisation, rise in their and their millions and demand freedom, justice and constitutional rights, which -are the God-given privileges of every citizen?