Japan, its history, arts and literature (Volume 5) online

various requirements of the State's progress, twenty-two different
kinds of national bonds were issued from 1870 to 1896; that
they aggregated 673,215,500 yen; that 269,042,198 yen of that
total had been paid off at the close of 1 897, and that the remainder
will be redeemed, according to the present programme, by 1946.

NOTE 7. Income tax is payable, not only by Japanese sub-
jects, but also by all persons having a domicile in Japan, or
having resided there for more than one year. The minimum
taxable income is 300 yen (^30) annually, and the rate for such
an income is one per cent. As the income increases, so does
the rate, up to a limit of five and one half per cent, which is
paid by persons having an income of 100,000 yen (,10,000)
or upward. There is a business tax which is levied on various
branches of business ; as, sales of merchandise, banking, insur-
ance, warehousing, manufacturing, printing, photography, trans-
portation, restaurants, hotels, factors, and brokers. When
levied on the amount of mercantile transactions, it is 2"oW ^ or
wholesale dealers and 2~oVo ^ or reta ^ dealers. In other cases,
it is levied at the rate of Yo 2 <nf on tne ca pi ta l engaged, or at the
rate of from two per cent to six per cent on the rental value of
the buildings employed. When a business is carried on partly
in a foreign country and partly in Japan, only the capital used in
Japan is liable to tax. The taxes on vehicles and sake do not call
for any special notice. Stamp-duties and registration fees are
also collected.

NOTE 8. The efficiency of money has greatly increased,
of course, during recent years. Thus whereas, in 1873, there
were only half a dozen banks with a total capital of six
thousand pounds, and aggregate loans of the same amount,
approximately, the number at the close of 1899 was 2,296,
with a total capital of 49,500,000 sterling and loans ag-
gregating 267,000,000. In 1873 the sums deposited by
individuals in banks amounted to 500,000; in 1892, they
aggregated 33,000,000. In 1887, the year after the estab-
lishment of clearing-houses in Tokyo and Osaka, the clearances
aggregated less than 3,000,000 sterling; in 1899, they totalled
over 129,000,000.

251



APPENDIX

NOTE 9. The tariff was fixed originally on a basis of ten
per cent duty on imports, but in 1865 Japan consented, under
heavy pressure and even armed menace, to reduce the rate to
five per cent. This, too, was only nominal, for the conversion
of ad valorem duties into specific was managed in such a man-
ner that the sum actually levied on imports did not average as
much as two and a half per cent of their value at the port of
shipment.

NOTE 10. This idea was founded partly on the inferior
stature and weight of the Japanese. The average height of the
adult male Japanese, according to Dr. E. Baelz, the best
authority on the ethnography of Japan, is 5 ft. 2*^ in.,
and that of the adult female, 4 ft. 8^ in. Thus the male
in Japan is about as tall as the female in Europe. The
weight of the male is 150 Ibs. in the lower orders, and from
140 to 145 Ibs. in the upper (against an average weight of
1 88 Ibs. in Europe) ; the woman weighs from 122 to 125 Ibs.
It will be convenient to set down here some salient facts as to
the physical structure and properties of the people, following
always the authority of Dr. Baelz. The Japanese grows only
eight percent of his stature from the time of puberty, whereas
the European grows thirteen per cent. The bulk of the people
are strong. The upper classes are comparatively weakly, but
the lower are robust and muscular. In the matter of weight,
as well as in that of height, development ceases sooner in the
Japanese than in the European. The head is large, the face
and torso are long, the legs short. Indeed, the length of the
torso and the shortness of the legs are so marked as to consti-
tute a race characteristic. In a European the length of the leg
from the trochanter to the ground is more than one-half of the
length of the body ; in the Japanese it is distinctly less. The
face, in consequence of the low bridge of the nose, is less promi-
nent than that of the European, and appears to be broader,
but is not really so. The forehead is low ; the vertical distance
between the tip of the nose and the upper lip, very small. The
mouth is sometimes small and shapely, but frequently it is large
and the teeth are prognathous. The eye is always dark, gener-
ally of a fine brown. It seems to be oblique, but the obliquity
is due to the position of the lids. Further, the upper lid is

252



APPENDIX

almost a direct continuation of the skin of the forehead, instead
of being recessed under the eyebrow, as is the case in Euro-
peans. The cheeks are broad and flat ; the chin, narrow ; the
legs are often crooked and graceless, especially in women ; the
calves are strongly developed ; the ankles thick ; the feet broad ;
the arms, hands, and neck remarkably graceful; the skin is
light yellow, often not darker than that of southern Europeans,
but sometimes as dusky as that of the Singhalese. The Japan-
ese belong to the least hirsute of the human species. Their
hair is black and straight. It turns grey at the age of forty-five
to fifty, but baldness is comparatively rare. Dr. Baelz con-
cludes that the finer type of the Japanese came from the bor-
ders of the Euphrates and Tigris, and that they belonged to the
same stock as the Egyptians.

NOTE ii The number of these students had reached two

hundred by the middle of 1901.

NOTE 12. The highest rate of subscription to a daily
journal is twelve shillings per annum, and the usual charge for
advertisements is from sevenpence to one shilling per line of
twenty-two ideographs (about nine words).

NOTE 13. The total local expenditures area little over
40 million yen annually. They increased from 25 millions to
40 millions in a period of five years (1895-1899), but the in-
crease is not an evidence of extravagance in administration, as
ii millions of it was devoted to useful public works, and
nearly 2 millions to education. Revenue to meet these outlays
is derived from five taxes, land-rate (13^ millions), house-
tax (5^ millions), business tax (2^ millions), and miscella-
neous tax (2/4 millions). A large sum is obtained from
property owned by the local administrations, and the Central
Treasury grants aids to the extent of 4^ million yen. The
system of local taxation is complicated, but, speaking generally,
two kinds of impost have to be paid, first, a prefectural tax, and,
secondly, a town or district tax. Some of the local taxes are
levied on the basis of the national tax in which case the
former must not exceed a certain fixed fraction of the latter;
some are levied independently, as taxes on houses, vehicles, and
draft-animals. A marked distinction is made between vehicles
or animals kept for hire and those maintained by private individ-

253



APPENDIX

uals, and the same principle of graduation observed in the case
of the income tax is applied to the house tax, so that the bur-
den decreases rapidly as the poorer classes are reached.

NOTE 14. The mayor of a town (sbicho) is nominated by
the Minister of State for Home Affairs from among three men
chosen by the town assembly.

NOTE 15. The number of police-offices in the Empire
(including Formosa) is 13,821, and the total number of police
officials of all grades, 32,910, or I forevery 1,421 of the popu-
lation. The police force has been increased by 4,591 during
the past five years, but of that increment the newly organised
force for Formosa represents 2,934. There are 365 tribunals
of justice, presided over by 1,201 judges with the assistance of
471 public procurators and 5,987 clerks. It has been com-
plained that the number of tribunals and their personnel are not
sufficient to discharge the business coming before them. The
criticism is probably just, but statistics show that the courts
perform their functions rapidly, for in 1897 the latest year in-
cluded in the published records they dealt with 313,571 cases
altogether, namely, 7,654 appeals and 133,472 first-instance
cases, in civil suits; 8,507 questions of conciliation ; and 8,723
appeals, and 155,215 first-instance or magisterial cases, in
criminal matters.

NOTE 1 6. Ichikawa's view has been ably summarised by
Sir Earnest Satow. He sets out by declaring that all unwritten
traditions must be considered unworthy of belief, not only be-
cause they rest on the very fallible testimony of memory and
hearsay, but also because the most striking, and therefore the
most improbable, stories are precisely those most likely to be
thus preserved. He then goes on to show that, on the most
favourable hypothesis, the art of writing did not become known
in Japan until a thousand years had separated the reign of the
first mortal ruler from the compilation of the first manuscript
record. He conjectures that " Amaterasu" was a title of com-
paratively modern invention. He contends that no cosmogony
can be credible which makes vegetation antecedent to the birth
of the sun. He declares unhesitatingly that the claim of sun-
genesis was probably invented by the earliest Mikado for po-
litical purposes. He denies that the gods in heaven make any

254



APPENDIX

racial distinctions, geographical conditions being alone responsible
for such accidents. He refuses to accept any arithmetic of
years when the calculators were men without cyclical signs or
assisting script, and he concludes by declaring that if the an-
cestors of living men were not human beings, they are more
likely to have been animals or birds than gods, by which last
proposition he seems to indicate a belief in progressive evolution.

NOTE 17. This remarkable scholar and philosopher was
born in 1730 and died in 1801. He is justly regarded by his
countrymen as the greatest interpreter of their ancient faith.
The brief review of his opinions given in the text is a summary
of Sir Earnest Satow's analysis of his works in " The Revival
of Pure Shinto"

NOTE 1 8. Hirata Atsutane.

NOTE 19. Being constructed of wood, the buildings are
so perishable that instead of resorting to a process of constant
repair, new edifices are erected, on an alternate site, every
second decade.

NOTE 20. The offerings varied, more or less, but gen-
erally included a bow, a sword, a mirror, a silk baldachin,
" bright cloth, glittering cloth, fine cloth, and coarse cloth,"
sake jars, sweet herbs and bitter herbs, " things narrow of fin
and wide of fin," etc., all of which, to use the language of the
ritual, were " piled up like ranges of hills."

NOTE 21. These funeral orations often rise to heights of
remarkable pathos, dignity, and beauty, and are read aloud by
the chief priest in a manner at once simple and impressive.

NOTE 22. The language of these rituals is sometimes full
of fervour and eloquence.

NOTE 23. Compare Mr. Alfred Wallace's account of the
young lady's " double," inspected with a phosphorus lamp and
afterwards embraced by a fellow of the Royal Society.

NOTE 24. Closely resembling the " Poltergeist " of the
Germans, and having some affinities with the " Pixies " of
Anglo-Saxondom.

NOTE 25 From tori (a bird) and / (to rest, or perch).

NOTE 26. Thousands of these miniature shrines are to
be seen in the rice-fields or in the vicinity of hamlets. They
are erected in honour of the Spirit of Food. As to the name

255



APPENDIX

" Inari," it is said by some sinologues to be that of a place, but
the general belief in Japan makes it a contraction of ine-ninai,
or the rice-carrier. The fox is supposed to be an agent of the
god ; hence the stone foxes usually placed near the shrine.

NOTE 27. Mr. Percival Lowell has published a delightfully
written volume on this subject.

NOTE 28. Kokoro dani

Makoto no michi ni
Kanainaba,
Inorazu Memo
Kami ga mamoran.

That is the code of Shinto ethics as summed up in the tenth
century by Fujiwara no Michizane, the deity Tenjin of subse-
quent eras.

NOTE 29. " The Revival of Pure Shinto" Satow, in the
Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Japan.

NOTE 30. It was believed that man depended on the wind
for his breath.

NOTE 31. The Terrestrial Deities ruled over the "Un-
seen." They were the god O-kuni-nushi (who yielded the
sovereignty of Japan to Ninigi), and his consort Suberi-hime.
On them devolved the direction of everything that could not be
ascribed to a definite author : as the tranquillity of the State, its
prosperity, and the lives and fortunes of its people.

NOTE 32. Hirata Atsutane in "The Revival of Pure
Sbinfo" Satow.

NOTE 33. "The Spirits of the dead," writes Hirata At-
sutane in the Tama no Mihashira^ " continue to exist in the un-
seen world, which is everywhere about us. They all become gods
of varying character and degrees of influence. Some reside in
temples built in their honour ; others never leave their tombs.
They continue to render services to their princes, wives, and
children, as when in the body." Elsewhere he says : " You
cannot hope to live more than a hundred years under
the most favourable circumstances, but as you will go to the
Unseen Realm of O-kuni-nushi after death and be subject to
his rule, learn betimes to bow down before him."

NOTE 34. The final use to which these pieces of wood
were put is curious. They had to be exchanged every half

256



APPENDIX

year for new fragments, and the old were employed to light the
fire under a bath for the virgin priestesses that danced at the
festival of purification.

NOTE 35. A hare, desiring to cross from a mid-ocean
island to the mainland, taunted the sea-sharks by alleging that
its tribe numbered more than theirs. By way of practical test, it
invited them to range themselves in line between shore and
shore. That done, the hare, jumping from back to back and
professing to count as it leaped, reached its desired destination.
But ultimately conceit prompted it to jeer before its feet were
fairly planted on dry land, and by the last shark in the line its
skin was torn off. As it lay writhing and weeping, a band of
deities approached. The elder brothers of O-kuni-nushi (the
terrestrial ruler of Japan), they were journeying to pay court to
Princess Yakimi of Inaba, whom they all loved. Observing
the hare's misery, they bade it bathe in the brine of the sea and
lie thereafter exposed to sun and wind, by which unkindly
prescription the animnal's sufferings were doubled. Presently
O-kuni-nushi, who had been degraded by his brothers to the
position of baggage-carrier, came along bearing his burden. He
told the unhappy hare to wash in the fresh water of the river
and roll its body in the pollen of the sedges ; and being thus re-
stored, it promised that he, not his brothers, should win the
princess, which so fell out.

NOTE 36. This is a complete answer to the shallow crit-
ics who allege that love, in the Occidental sense of the term, is
not known in Japan. Hope of finding beyond the grave the
union which in life circumstances forbid, is responsible for
suicides so numerous that the theory of these critics becomes
mere silliness.

NOTE 37. Motoori Motonaga, the celebrated exponent of
"Pure Shinto" in the eighteenth century endorses the above
view which has here been arrived at by direct comparison of
Chinese philosophy and Japanese history. He says that the
ethics enumerated by the Sages of China may be reduced to two
simple rules : " Take other people's territory and hold it fast
when you 've got it," and he distinctly attributes to the influence
of Chinese learning the contumacy shown toward the Mikado in
the middle ages by the Hojo, the Ashikaga, and others. He

VOL. v. 17 2 C7



APPENDIX

might have greatly extended his list and carried it back much
farther.

NOTE 38. It may be accepted as a historical fact that
eight names instituted by the Emperor Temmu at the close of
the seventh century corresponded pretty closely with our modern
idea of titles of nobility. For example, members of the Kw o-
betsu, who became governors of provinces, received the name
Mabito. Members of the same tribe hitherto called Oml were
thenceforth designated A-son ; others previously called Muraji,
became Suku-ne^ and so on.

NOTE 39. The chief Shinto official at the great shrine in
Izuma claims to be the eighty-second descendant in a direct line
from the deity Susano-o.

NOTE 40. The five negative precepts were, not to kill,
not to be guilty of dishonesty, not to be lewd, not to speak un-
truth, not to drink intoxicants ; the ten virtues were, to be kind
to all sentient beings, to be liberal, to be chaste, to speak the
truth, to employ gentle and peace-making language, to use re-
fined words, to express everything in a plain, unexaggerated
manner, to devote the mind to moral thoughts, to practise char-
ity and patience, and to cultivate pure intentions.

NOTE 41. In this stage he passed to the consideration of
the four verities, the twelve-linked chain of causation, the four
aspirations, and the six transcendental virtues.

NOTE 42. The Tendai (Heavenly command) Sect,
founded by Dengyo Daishi in 805 A. D., under Imperial
auspices. It had its chief headquarters at the celebrated mon-
astery of Hiyei-zan.

NOTE 43. It was from this time that Shinto and Bud-
dhism became commingled into the form of creed known as
Ryobu-Shinfo.

NOTE 44. Fate, with its proverbial irony, decreed that the
monastery where this unworldly and meditative sect had its
headquarters should have a history resonant with the clash of
arms. The monks of Hiyei-zan became, from an early date, a
community of soldiers.

NOTE 45. Lloyd's " Developments of Japanese Bud-
dhism," a work of high value to students of this subject.

NOTE 46. This sect received much patronage from the

2 5 8



APPENDIX

Imperial Court, as well as from the Tokugawa Shoguns. The
great temple, Zoj5-ji, which stands among the Tokugawa Mau-
solea in Shiba, belongs to the Jodo-shu (Shu-sect).

NOTE 47. Shin-shu, called also MontH-shu (Sect of gate-
disciples), and Ikko-shu (Undivided sect), founded by Shinran in
1224 A. D.

NOTE 48. Statistics compiled in 1790 show that there
were then 469,934 temples in Japan, of which 140,884 be-
longed to the Spirit Sect (Sbin-sbu) ; 140,020 to the Pure Land
Sect (Jodo-shti), and 33,020 to the Nichiren Sect, the other
sects having comparatively small numbers.

NOTE 49. These doctrines, as expounded by responsible
heads of the sect, are fully set forth in the " Annales du Musee
Guimet" (1880).

NOTE 50. " The Doctrines of Nichiren ; " compiled by
the Right Virtuous Abbot Kobayashi ; translated by Messrs.
K. Tatsumi and F. H. Balfour.

NOTE 51. Near Tokyo. The festival takes place in
October.

NOTE 52. Rokkon shojo, a prayer for the purification of the
six senses, eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and spirit. Out of the
colourlessness of the Shinto of Motoori and Haruta a sect grew
which enjoys some influence to-day, the Tenri-kyo, with its
twelve hymns and dances and its faith-cures.

NOTE 53. Some strange admissions were made to the
Shinto pantheon which had grown too large to be accurately
controlled. The grave of a wrestler (Narihira) in Yedo came
to be mistaken for that of the famous poet of the same name, and
litterateurs constantly worshipped there. A groom called Koraku,
a criminal called Nezu, and more than one notorious malefactor
received apotheosis from the ignorant multitude on account of
legends associated with their memories.

NOTE 54. The State grants a sum of 216,000 yen annually
for the support of Shinto shrines, and extends no aid whatever to
Buddhism.

NOTE 55. The use of sakaki (Cleyera Japonica) is referred
to the sylvan method of worship practised in the earliest times.
A space surrounded by thick trees constituted the hall of rites.
The trees were called a " sacred fence " (himorori}, and it seems

259



APPENDIX

probable that strips of the cloth offered to the deities were hung
from the branches. Thus, even after a shrine had been built to
receive the divine insignia (the mirror, the sword, and the jewel),
a bough of sakaki with white pendants (jgo-hei} continued to be
included in the paraphernalia of the ceremony of worship.

NOTE 56. It might be supposed that many Emperors
would have received this distinction. But among the hundred
and twenty-eight sovereigns that have sat on the throne of
Japan, two only Ojin and Kwammu are thus honoured.
On the other hand, great subjects have been deified much more
frequently : for example, Sugawara no Michizane (Temman),
Kusunoki Masashige (Minatogawa), Tokugawa lyeyasu
(Tosho), Hideyoshi the Toiko (Toyokuni), etc.

NOTE 57. Daijin-gu (Ise) ; Tai-sha (Izumo) ; Hacbi-
man-gu (Kyoto) ; Temman-gu (Hakata) ; Inari (Kyoto) ;
Kasuga (Nara) ; Atago (Kyoto) ; Kompira (Sanuki) ; Suiten-gu
(Tokyo), and Suwa (Shinano).

NOTE 58. It is not absolutely correct to speak of a Shinto
minister as a " priest." He is called Shinkwan, which signifies
rather a " Shinto official."

NOTE 59. Mr. Percival Lowell, in " Occult Japan," gives
lengthy and picturesque accounts of these and other cognate
performances. They are called Kami-waza^ or deeds of the
deities.

NOTE 60. The supposed effect is that the germs of the
caries are expelled from the patient's ear.

NOTE 6 1 . Thus a woman speaks of " water " as o-hiya
(the honourable cold thing), rather than as mizu, because the latter
word implies separation. Again, the old word for " rice,"
shine, has been changed into yone, because the former signifies
also " death ; " and for the same reason " four persons " are
alluded to as yottari, not as shinin.

NOTE 62. A fisherman who was transported to the sub-
marine castle of the dragon king, where he lived unconscious of
the flight of time.

NOTE 63. A Chinese Merlin, who ate the sacred fruit of
longevity.



260



This book is DUE on the last date stamped below



MAY 2 1934

3



JUL 15 1935
MAY 1 193/






MAR 1 6 '
APR 6 1953



NOV 1



JAN 1 6 1957
Dec * '






Form L-9-15m-7,'31




'57





PLEA E DO NOT REMOVE
THIS BOOK CARD ~



University Research Library




N



Li