and Japanese, which you say is "now very much agitated among our
scholars and politicians" and which you say is "one of the most
difficult problems," my reply is that, as rationally answered, there
is no difficulty at all. It should be positively forbidden. It is not
at root a question of social philosophy. It is at root a question of
biology. There is abundant proof, alike furnished by the
intermarriages of human races and by the interbreeding of animals,
that when the varieties mingled diverge beyond a certain slight
degree the result is inevitably a bad one in the long run. I have
myself been in the habit of looking at the evidence bearing on this
matter for many years past, and my conviction is based on numerous
facts derived from numerous sources. This conviction I have within
the last half-hour verified, for I happen to be staying in the
country with a gentleman who is well known and has had much
experience respecting the interbreeding of cattle; and he has just,
on inquiry, fully confirmed my belief that when, say of the different
varieties of sheep, there is an interbreeding of those which are
widely unlike, the result, especially in the second generation, is a
bad one--there arise an incalculable mixture of traits, and what may
be called a chaotic constitution. And the same thing happens among
human beings--the Eurasians in India, the half-breeds in America,
show this. The physiological basis of this experience appears to be
that any one variety of creature in course of many generations
acquires a certain constitutional adaptation to its particular form
of life, and every other variety similarly acquires its own special
adaptation. The consequence is that, if you mix the constitution of
two widely divergent varieties which have severally become adapted to
widely divergent modes of life, you get a constitution which is
adapted to the mode of life of neither--a constitution which will not
work properly, because it is not fitted for any set of conditions
whatever. By all means, therefore, peremptorily interdict marriages
of Japanese with foreigners.
I have for the reasons indicated entirely approved of the regulations
which have been established in America for restraining the Chinese
immigration, and had I the power I would restrict them [484] to the
smallest possible amount, my reasons for this decision being that one
of two things must happen. If the Chinese are allowed to settle
extensively in America, they must either, if they remain unmixed,
form a subject race standing in the position, if not of slaves, yet
of a class approaching to slaves; or if they mix they must form a bad
hybrid. In either case, supposing the immigration to be large,
immense social mischief must arise, and eventually social
disorganization. The same thing will happen if there should be any
considerable mixture of European or American races with the Japanese.
You see, therefore, that my advice is strongly conservative in all
directions, and I end by saying as I began--keep other races at arm's
length as much as possible.
I give this advice in confidence. I wish that it should not
transpire publicly, at any rate during my life, for I do not
desire to rouse the animosity of my fellow-countrymen.
I am sincerely yours, HERBERT SPENCER.
P.S.--Of course, when I say I wish this advice to be in confidence,
I do not interdict the communication of it to Count Ito, but rather
wish that he should have the opportunity of taking it into
consideration.
How fairly Herbert Spencer understood the prejudices of his
countrymen has been shown by the comments of the Times upon this
letter,--comments chiefly characterized by that unreasoning quality
of abuse with which the English conventional mind commonly resents
the pain of a new idea opposed to immediate interests. Yet some
knowledge of the real facts in the case should serve to convince even
the Times that if Japan is able in this moment to fight for the cause
of civilization in general, and for English interests in particular,
it is precisely because the Japanese statesmen of a wiser generation
maintained a sound conservative policy upon the very lines indicated
in that letter--so unjustly called a proof of "colossal egotism."
Whether the advice itself directly served at any time to influence
government policy, I do not know. But that it fully accorded with the
national instinct of self-preservation, is shown by the history [485]
of that fierce opposition which the advocates of the abolition of
extra-territoriality had to encounter, and by the nature of the
precautionary legislation enacted in regard to those very matters
dwelt upon in Herbert Spencer's letter, Though extra-territoriality
has been (unavoidably, perhaps) abolished, foreign capital has not
been left free to exploit the resources of the country; and
foreigners are not allowed to own land. Though marriages between
Japanese and foreigners have never been forbidden,* they have never
been encouraged, and can take place only under special legal
restrictions. If foreigners could have acquired, through marriage,
the right to hold Japanese real estate, a considerable amount of such
estate would soon have passed into alien hands. But the law has
wisely provided that the Japanese woman marrying a foreigner thereby
becomes a foreigner, and that the children by such a marriage remain
foreigners. On the other hand, any foreigner adopted by marriage into
a Japanese family becomes a Japanese; and the children in such event
remain Japanese. But they also remain under certain disabilities:
they are precluded from holding high offices of state; and they
cannot even become officers of the army or navy except by special
permission. (This permission appears to have been accorded in one or
two cases.) Finally, it is to be observed that Japan has kept her
coasting-trade in her own hands.
[*The number of families in Tokyo representing such unions is said to
be over one hundred.]
On the whole, then, it may be said that Japanese policy followed, to
a considerable extent, the course suggested in Herbert Spencer's
letter of advice; and it is much to be regretted, in my humble
opinion, that the advice could not have been followed more closely.
Could the philosopher have lived to hear of the recent Japanese
victories,--the defeat of a powerful Russian fleet without the loss
of a single Japanese vessel, and the rout of thirty thousand Russian
troops on the Yalu,--I do not think that he would have changed his
counsel by a hair's-breadth. Perhaps he would have commended, [486]
so far as his humanitarian conscience permitted, the thoroughness of
the Japanese study of the new science of war: he might have praised
the high courage displayed, and the triumph of the ancient
discipline;--his sympathies would have been on the side of the
country compelled to choose between the necessities of inviting a
protectorate or fighting Russia. But had he been questioned again as
to the policy of the future, in case of victory, he would probably
have reminded the questioner that military efficiency is a very
different thing from industrial power, and have vigorously repeated
his warning. Understanding the structure and the history of Japanese
society, he could clearly perceive the dangers of foreign contact,
and the directions from which attempts to take advantage of the
industrial weakness of the country were likely to be made.... In
another generation Japan will be able, without peril, to abandon much
of her conservatism; but, for the time being, her conservatism is her
salvation.
[487]
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
In the preparation of this essay, I have been much indebted to
the "Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan", and
especially to the following contributions:--
(ON THE SUBJECT OF SHINTO)
"The Revival of Pure Shinto," by Sir Ernest Satow,--Appendix to
Vol. III.
"The Shinto Temples of Ise," by Satow,--Vol. II.
"Ancient Japanese Rituals," by Satow,--Vols. VII and IX.
"Japanese Funeral Rites," by A. H. Lay,--Vol. XIX.
(ON THE SUBJECT OF LAW AND CUSTOM)
"Notes on Land Tenure and Local Institutions in Old Japan," by
Dr. D. B. Simmons. Edited by Professor J. H. Wigmore,--Vol. XIX.
"Materials for the Study of Private Law in Old Japan," by
Professor J. H. Wigmore,--Vol. XX, Supplements 1, 2, 3, 5.
(ON THE CHRISTIAN EPISODE OF THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH
CENTURIES)
"The Church at Yamaguchi from 1550 to 1586," by Satow,--Vol. VII.
"Review of the Introduction of Christianity into China and
Japan," by J. H. Gubbins,--Vol. VI.
"Historical Notes on Nagasaki," by W. A. Wooley,--Vol. IX.
"The Arima Rebellion," by Dr. Geertz,--Vol. IX.
[488]
(ON JAPANESE HISTORY AND SOCIOLOGY)
"Early Japanese History," by W. G. Aston,--Vol. XVI.
"The Feudal System of Japan under the Tokugawa Shoguns," by J. H.
Gubbins,--Vol. XV.
--The extracts quoted from "The Legacy of Iyeyasu" have been
taken from the translation made by J. F. Lowder.
--I regret not having been able, in preparing this essay, to
avail myself of the very remarkable "History of Japan during the
Century of Early Foreign Intercourse (1542-1651),"--by James
Murdoch and Isoh Yamagata,--which was published at Kobe last
winter. This important work contains much documentary material
never before printed, and throws new light upon the religious
history of the period. The authors are inclined to believe that,
allowing for numerous apostasies, the total number of Christians
in Japan at no time much exceeded 300,000; and the reasons given
for this opinion, if not conclusive, are at least very strong.
Perhaps the most interesting chapters are those dealing with the
Machiavellian policy of Hideyoshi in his attitude to the foreign
religion and its preachers, but there are few dull pages in the
book. Help to a correct understanding of the history of the time
is furnished by an excellent set of maps, showing the
distribution of the great fiefs and the political partition of
the country before and after the establishment of the Tokugawa
Shogunate. Not the least merit of the work is its absolute
freedom from religious bias of any sort.
INDEX
Ability, slight opportunity for, to rise, 410-411.
Adams, Will, 254, 313; interviewed by Iyeyasu, 314-316, favoured
by the Emperor, 316-317; quoted concerning Hideyori's intrigues
and fate. 322-323.
Adoption, custom of, in patriarchal family, 59, 64-65; marriage
signified merely, 64; modern practices regarding, 386.
Adultery, enactments of Iyeyasu regarding, 345-346.
Affection, limitations placed on, 69 ff.
Age of the Gods, period called the, 259.
Agnosticism, Buddhism is not. 213, 220.
Agriculture, gods of, 126, 153-154; no degradation attached to
pursuit of, 245.
Akindo, the commercial class, 246-247. See Commerce.
Alcestis, the Japanese woman might be compared to, 366.
Ancestors, imperial, worship of the, 108-123, 279-280.
Ancestor-worship, introduction to religion of, 21-32; the real
religion of Japan, 21; summary of the three forms of, 21-22;
the family-cult of, 21-22, 25-26; characteristics of earliest,
24 ff.; stability of, in Japan for two thousand years, 32;
summary of beliefs surviving from, 31; three stages of, 33-34;
evolution of permanent form from funeral-rites, 34-51:
characteristics of religion of, to-day, 51-53; bearing of, on
family-organization of, 55 ff. ; marriage under the religion
of, 107 ff. ; four classes of, to-day, 123-124; accommodation
of Buddhism to, 183-184; toleration of ancient European, by
Roman Catholicism, 191; Buddhist theory of rebirths reconciled
to, 195 n.; Confucian system founded on, 177-178, 292; needless
attacks on, account for smallness of result, of modern missions,
339, 473-475; protection of, by modern laws, 385-388; obstacles
presented to Christianity by, 473-475.
"Ancient Japanese Rituals", 43 n. See Satow.
Animals, absence of cruelty to, 12-13; kindness to, taught by
Buddhism, 196-197.
Animism, development of, 131-132.
Antigone, comparison of the Japanese woman to, 366.
Apes, images of Koshin's symbolic, 200.
Apprentices, obligation of, to avenge masters, 293; past and
present position of, 406.
Architecture, displayed in Buddhist temples, 199-200.
Arima, lord of Shimabara, 324, 325.
Army, birth of modern, 376: pay of officers in, 412.
Art, knowledge of Japanese religion necessary to understanding
of, 2-3; introduction by Buddhism, 197-198, 204, 459; forms of,
in Buddhist temples, 198-199; expulsion of Jesuits, a fortunate
thing for, 341-342; causes which tended to production of a
multitude of objects of, 356; effect of modern industrial
conditions on, 451.
Artizans, gods of, 124-125; clans of, 235; position of, under
quasi-feudal system, 245-246; organizations of, see Guilds.
Arts, developed in Japan under Buddhist teaching, 188; progress
of the, under Iyeyasu, 279.
Asada, Lieutenant, suicide of widow of, 289.
Asceticism, Shinto, 149-150.
Ashikaga shogunate, 271-273. Sec undo Iyeyasu.
Aston, W.G., translation of the Nihongi by, cited, 38, 39, 112 n.,
151 n., 164 n., 232 n., 234 n.; "Early Japanese History"
by, cited, 259 n.
Bambetsu, "Foreign Branch", the mass of people, 235-236.
Banishment, punishment by, 96-99.
Banner-supporters (hatamoto), 243.
Bateren, Roman Catholic priests, 311 n.
Bato-Kwannon, images of, 200.
Behaviour, sumptuary regulations as to, 173-174; proclamation of
Shotoku Taishi regarding, 359-360.
Births, regulations as to presents on occasions of, 165;
registration of, by Buddhist priests, 203-204.
Black, an Englishman, as a Japanese story-teller, 10-11.
Bon-odori, dances of the festival of the dead, 202.
Boundaries, gods of, 130.
Bow, etiquette of the, 174.
Boys, conduct of, regulated by the community, 89-90; proverb
regarding mischievousness of, 421.
Buddhism, Japanese name for (Butsudo), 21; mortuary tablets of,
42-43, 201; the dead according to, and Shinto, 47-48; entry of,
into Japan, 183-184; disestablishment of (1871), 107-109; charm
of, to Western thinkers, 209-210; summary of teachings of,
under Emperor Temmu, 239; obstacles to establishment of
religious hierarchy by, 251; military development of, 269-270;
violent end to militant, 275-276; jesuitism mistaken for a new
kind of, 332-334; no essential of Shinto weakened by, 379-380.
Buke, the military class, 241.
Butsudan, household-shrine, 42.
Butsudo, "The Way of the Buddha", 21.
Capital, danger to Japan from foreign, 465-466, 473.
Carpenters, religious rites preformed by, 125; organizations of,
403-404.
Castes, division of society into, 236.
Cauldron and saucepan, god of the, 129.
Celibacy, forbidden by early religion, 58; condemned by code of
Iyeyasu, 349.
Charms, to protect houses, 147 n.
Chastisement, punishment by, 95-96, 421.
Chiara, Giuseppe, 327 n.
Chieftainship, hereditary, 235.
China, date of introduction of spirit-tablet from, 24; religion
of filial piety in, 49-50; belief as to the Demon-Gate imported
from, 130; penal codes imported from, 176; arts and learning
of, taught by Buddhism, 201; civilization of, brought to Japan
by Buddhism, 203; harakiri, perhaps introduced from, 286;
Jesuit policy in, 331; cause for hatred of Western religion in,
474; integrity of, depends on mission-policy, 479-480.
Chori, pariahs, 247-250.
Chosku, clan of, 367, 368, 372, 374.
"Chronicles of Nihon", see Nihongi.
Christianity, assumption that individualism would be produced by,
471; obstacles to, presented by religion of ancestor-worship,
479-481. See Jesuits and Missions.
Chi-U, the condition of, 191 n.
Circle of Perpetual Hunger for wicked ghosts, 191.
Clan, cult of the, 81-83.
Clans, number of, in ancient Japan, 83; three great classes of,
235-236; early society an aggregation of, 236-237, 252-253;
wars between the military, for supremacy, 267 ff.; misery one
result of break-up of, 447-449.
Cleanliness exacted by Shinto, 145-146.
Coffins, size regulated by law, 179.
Colour-prints, production of, 357.
Commerce, contempt for, 246; Portuguese, a help to Jesuit
missionary work, 334-335; rise to power, 446; dangers resulting
from the rise of, 447-452.
Communism not a modern growth, 255.
Competition, undesirability of, 414-416; Government aid to
national industrial, 451-452.
Concubines, under patriarchal system, 58, 68-69, 74; remarks of
Iyeyasu regarding, 68, 348.
Confucianism, influence of, in Japan, 187-188, 292 ff.
Conscience, doctrine of, admitted by Buddhism, 196.
Coulanges, Fustel de, 52, 264, 449; quoted, 27, 67.
Courtesy, legal regulation of, 173-176.
Craft-gods, 124, 153-154.
Crafts, effect of Buddhism on, 188; guilds connected with, 246,
252, 402-405.
Crucifixion of Christians at Nagasaki, 307.
Cruelty to animals, apparent absence of, 12-13; punishment of,
after death, 197.
Daimyo, lords of provinces, 242; conversion of, to Jesuitism,
304; Jesuits work with aid of, 304, 306,308, 339; protection of
peasantry against, 396.
Dai-Nihon-Shi, compilation of, 370.
Dances, sacred, 142-143; of the festival of the dead, 202.
Dancing, Japanese, 202 n. 2.
Dan-no-ura, sea-fight of, 267.
Daughter, gradation of terms signifying, 171.
Daughters, sale of, 72, 75 n.
Daughters-in-law, custom as to, 64-65.
Dead, early conceptions of fate of, 25-28; rites in honour of,
34-46; poems in praise of, 35; Buddhist doctrine of, 47;
effects of Buddhism on worship of, 191-192.
Death, penalty of, inflicted for slight offences, 178-179;
matters relating to, regulated by law, 179.
Debtors, reduction of, to slavery, 234.
Deities, punishments by tutelar, 102-105; lesser Shinto, 108.
See Gods and Ujigami.
Demeanour, regulation of, 173-176; cultivation of, as an art,
359-361.
Demon-Gate, the, 130.
Dependants, under the patriarchal system, 76-78, 231-234;
conservative attitude of, 400; position of employes in
commercial houses, 406; position of maid-servants, 407-409.
Deportment, code of, 173.
Discipline, strength of, in Old Japan, 159-182.
Divination, systems of, 150-152; not used in warfare, 152.
Divorce, in ancient family system, 58, 69-70, 73, 75; the new
laws about, 386.
Dominicans in Japan, 307; reckless zeal of, 338.
Drama, introduction by Buddhism, 204; the age of popular, 357;
incidents of real tragedy reproduced in, 290-291.
Dress, restrictions as to, 166-168.
Dutch, assistance of, in putting down Shimabara Revolt, 326-327;
effect on status of, of Shimabara Revolt, 329-330.
Ear-Monument, the, 277.
Education, effect of Buddhism on, 202-203; introduction of modern
system of, 376; of the State, 419-441; the sustaining of, by
personal sacrifices, 435-436; of students abroad, 439-441.
Emma (Yama), judge of the dead, 199.
Emperor, application of term, to early rulers, incorrect, 237.
Enactments of the Kumi, 91-94.
Eta, people, the, 98, 247-250.
Etiquette, cultivation of, in Tokugawa period, 359-361.
Evolution, Buddhism a theory of, 210.
Execution, account of an early, 177-178.
Exports, rise in value of, 451.
Expression, etiquette of, 173.
Factory-life, horrors of modern, 452.
Families of the nobility, number of, 241.
Family, definition of Japanese term, 22; basis of the ancient,
55-57; obligation to perpetuate the, 58-59; constitution of the
patriarchal, 60-79.
Farmers, the rank of, 244-245; secured against undue oppression,
396-397. See Agriculture.
Father, gradation of terms signifying, 171.
Feast-days, Shinto, 103, 137:
Fencing, Japanese, an example of antipodal action, 7-8.
Festival of the dead, dances of the, 202.
Festival-processions, Shinto, 103.
Festivals of the Ujigami, 84, 137, 140-142; laws as to presents
at boys', 165: Shin-Sho-Sai, 245; temple, 84, 459.
Feudalism, Japanese so-called, 230-238, 253.
Flower-arrangement, art of, 358-359.
Flower-daughter, the, 64.
Food, the use by ghosts of, 29-30; offerings of, to the dead, 29-30,
45; offerings to the gods, 53 n., 138, 140, 141; for the dead
might not be eaten by children, 51 n.: laws as to, at weddings
and funerals, 165; offerings of, to Pretas, 191; decree
forbidding use of flesh for, 196; Buddhist offerings of, 201;
recent increase in price of, 412 n.
"Forty-seven Ronin", story of the, 295-296: tombs of the, 297 n.
Four Deva Kings, the, 260; temple of, 200.
Franciscans in Japan, 307 ff.
Freedmen, class of, 233, 234-235.
Freemasonry in Japan, 472 n.
Fujiwara clan, rise of the, 260-261; duration of rule of, 260,
266, 281; final degeneration of, 266-267.
Funeral-rites, ancient, 34-46.
Funerals, laws as to food at, 165; laws governing. 179.
Gardening, first development of, under Buddhism, 188; modern, 404.
Gardens, holiness of, 154.
Ghost-house, 36, 56; transformation of, into Shinto temples, 62.
Ghosts, ancestor-worship coeval with belief in, 24; identified in
early beliefs with gods, 25, 46-48, 55.
Ghost-ships, Buddhist, 202.
Girl-priestesses in Shinto temples, 142-143.
Girls in service, position of, 407-409.
Go, definition of, 64 n.
Goblins, admitted to exist by Buddhism, 190-191.
Go-Daigo, Mikado, revolt of, against Hojo, 270; later
vicissitudes of, 270-271.
Gods, no early difference between ghosts and, 25, 55; development
of distinction, between greater and lesser, 25-26; early
conceptions of, compared with Greek and Roman, 27-28: the dead
and, 46-48; the minor, 108; all Japanese considered as, in one
sense, 118: of crookedness, 118-119; of crafts and callings,
118-119; number of Shinto, worshipped, 127-128; of the house,
130-131; the great number of, 133-134; of industry, 153-154;
identity of Shinto and Buddhist evil, 190-191.
God-shelves, 124; daily prayers before, 134-136; religious charms
on, 147 n.
Go-Kameyama, Emperor, 272.
Go-Komatsu, Emperor, 272.
Goshi yeomanry, 243.
Go-Toba, Emperor, works at sword. making, 245.
Go-Tsuchi-mikado, Emperor, 273.
Government, identity of, with religion, 90-91.
Graves, legal dimensions of, 179; white lanterns at, 202.
Greeks, parallels drawn between Japanese and, 15-16, 27-28, 34,
36, 57, 59, 65, 67, 70, 78, 89, 99, 148, 169, 202 n., 229, 264,
443-444, 446.
Guilds, 246, 252; religious organization of, 124-125; modern
workings of, 402-403.
Hachiman, the war god, 83; acknowledgment of, in Buddhism, 190.
Hades, development of belief in, 25.
Hair, class indicated by method of wearing, 233.
Harakiri, custom of, 285-286; instance of, in Russian war, 464.
Harmony, Japanese sense of, in tints and colors. 8.
Heavenly sovereigns, worship of the, 108-109; maintained through
years of revolt, 279-280.
Heimin, "common folk", 247.
Hell, according to Buddhism, 195.
Hidetada, son of Iyeyasu, 321-322.
Hideyoshi, career of, 276-277; attitude of, toward Jesuits,
306-307.
Hinin, a wandering pariah, 98; "not-human-beings", 250.
Hirata, great Shinto commentator, 27, 369; quoted, 47, 49, 56,
111, 116, 117, 119, 120-121, 122, 134-135, 145, 161; banishment
and death of, 372.
History, scientific knowledge of Japanese, impossible, 1;
legendary, 259-260; beginning of authentic, 260.
Hitagaki, the "human hedge", 34.
Hitogata, "mankind-shapes", 147-148.
Hitotsubashi, Shogun, 374.
Hiyei-san, monastery buildings burnt at, 275.
Hizen, clan of, 372.
Hojo, supremacy of the, 268; defeat of and extinction, 270.
Home, gods of the, 129-130.
Honesty, Japanese, 13.
Hongwanji, Shin sect of, 275.
Horyfuji, the temple called, 200.
House, building of, a religious act, 125, 130-131; gods of the, 129.
Houses, size of, prescribed by law, 164, 165, 166; of prostitution,
enactment of Iyeyasu regarding, 347; operation of labour-unions
when building, 403-404.
Husband, seven terms for, 171.
Husbands, position of adopted, 64-65.
Huxley, T. H., quoted concerning industrial reform, 452-453.
"I", gradations of the pronoun. 171.
Ibuku Mogusa, extract from, 305.
Ihai, "soul-commemoration", Buddhist mortuary tablets, 42, 201.
Images, Buddhist, 459; setting up of, 200-201.
Imperial ancestors, worship of the, 108-109; duration of,
279-280.
Individual, obligations of the, under patriarchal system, 88-99;
relation of, to the Ujigami, 120-121; freedom of, did not
exist, 158, 253-254; modern recognition of, 376; now free in
theory, in practice like his forefathers, 384-387, 391-392;
Government official authority over the, 409-416.
Individualism, assumption that Christianity would produce, 471.
Industry, developed in Japan under Buddhist teachings, 188;
development of, under Iyeyasu, 279.
Industry, gods of, 124-125, 153-154.
Irregularity, the aesthetie value of, 8.
Ise, shrines of, 122.123-124; every Japanese expected to visit,
123-124; worship at shrines of, 138-139.
Ishijima, suicide of wife of, 290.
Isolation, causes for policy of, 329.
Ito, Marquis, policy of, 390.
Iyemochi, Shogun, 374.