It is a curious fact that, although it is recognized that the junks which
have been repeatedly driven by storms upon the Pacific coast have
generally been Japanese, no searching comparison between the culture of
ancient America and that of Japan has as yet been published; although it
is believed by many that it may have been to the occupants of the wrecked
junks that the American race owed its civilization. The curious idea seems
to prevail among some writers, that purely Chinese influence was conveyed
by Japanese fishermen and sailors to the dwellers on American soil. It
does not seem to be sufficiently recognized that the differences between
Japanese and Chinese civilizations are as great as that between their
different languages and writings, and that direct influence derived from
Japan, for many centuries back would have left traces so characteristic as
to be easily distinguished from the effects of direct influence from
China.
In the third century of the Christian era the Japanese empire was founded
on a plan derived from Corea and soon became known to the Chinese and
dwellers on the main land as Dschi-Poennkwo, or Zipanco, the “land of the
east, or of the rising sun.” The Japanese themselves, however, regarded
their empire as the “great centre of the world,” _i. e._ a “Middle
Kingdom.” The mythical birthplace of the Japanese race and the cradle of
its civilization is said to have been the island of the Congealed Drop,
which was formerly at the North Pole, but subsequently removed to its
present position. How this happened is not told.(88)
The most superficial examination shows that the fundamental scheme of the
Japanese empire was the same as that of China and other Asiatic countries.
Its centre was the island Hon-shiu, Hondo or Nippon, on which was situated
the ancient Fu or capital, named Yedo; the modern Tokio in the vicinity of
Fusiyama, the sacred mountain and reputed centre of the world. The entire
land or Han was originally divided into five provinces collectively named
the Go-kinai (the word go like the Maya ho, signifying five), the
territorial divisions and presumably consisting of four quarters and the
capital. Light is thrown upon the extent of this quinary organization by
the fact that, in ancient Japan, time was divided into five-day periods,
by official days of rest, which fell on the 1st, 6th, 11th, 16th, 21st,
and 26th days of each month. The computation of time by cycles, which will
be treated further in a separate monograph, also prevailed in Japan, as
might be expected, since this method was a main feature of the definite
scheme on which the entire empire was founded.
In accord with this plan the population was divided into four classes,
consisting of the Haimin=the people; the warriors or Samurai, the Kazoku,
literally the flower of families, the nobility. All members of the
imperial family formed a fourth caste and above all stood the Emperor, the
central ruler, the divine descendant of the sun-goddess Amaterasu.
Evidences that an extension and fresh territorial division of the empire
took place at one time seem preserved in the ancient Japanese name for
Japan: Oya-shima=the eight islands. It is likewise related that the
Japanese creators, Izanajo and Izanami, built, in the centre of the world,
an octagonal palace around a central pillar, the octagonal form having
reference to the eight holy corners or points, the “Hak-kaku,” or the
cardinal points and half cardinal points. It is impossible to overlook the
fact that by a similar method, but by means of four larger and four
smaller rays, the field of the Mexican calendar star is divided into eight
equal portions. It is a well-known fact that, in 1854, Japan was
practically governed by two rulers: the Mikado or Tenno, of divine or
“heavenly” descent, who led so secluded an existence that he was becoming
a shadowy and invisible ruler, and the Shogun, the civil governor, who had
become the terrestrial ruler _par excellence_, and whose power was in the
ascendant. This state of affairs affords a most interesting object lesson,
teaching how ancient empires gradually become divided and disintegrated
under dual government and under the influence of rival cults. The ancient
state religion or “Imperial worship” of Japan, the Shinto, was becoming as
obsolete as the worldly power of its high-priest the Mikado, next to the
growing ascendancy of Buddhism, supported by the Shogunate. The original
meaning of the Shinto sacred symbols appears to be lost. The mirror,
placed on the altar, usually constituted the only visible sacred emblem.
Another was the sword. It is claimed that the swastika came into Japan
with Buddhism, but this is a point which demands a serious investigation
of competent specialists. The above data, which are absurdly inadequate to
the interest and importance of Japan, the seat of the most intellectual
and progressive culture of Asia, are sufficient to show that in Japan,
where the swastika is found, the quadruplicate state organization and
fundamental plan were also carried out. My full purpose will only be
fulfilled when the present deficient notes shall have stimulated the
enquiry and research of students and Japanese scholars and led to the
publication of all traces extant of the most ancient scheme of
organization, government and calendar, as compared with those of ancient
America.
As it is maintained that the Chinese and other eastern Asiatic people did
not originate, but received their civilization from Babylonia, or another
ancient centre, situated in western Asia, it obviously becomes an
imperative necessity to carry the present investigation across the Asiatic
continent into the heart of the Euphratean valley.