At four o’clock in the morning of the second day after my visit to
the Imperial Diet in the Spring of 1892, I arrived at the station of
Kyoto,--for more than a thousand years the capital of Japan. Here
the unbroken line of heavenly descended Mikados lived and held their
court; but most of the time in only nominal rule, while a succession
of Daimyos, military captains, and Shoguns, seized and held the real
power of government. Here also are the finest temples and factories
for the various kinds of native art-work; and here is where the relics
of the magnificence, combined with simplicity, of the court life
during Japan’s feudal ages may best be seen and studied by privileged
inquirers. It was fortunate, then, that my first introduction to
interior views of Japanese life and Japanese character was had in the
ancient rather than in the much more thoroughly modernised Capital City
of Tokyo.
At that time, the journey between the two capitals required some
five or six hours longer than is now necessary. The fact that there
were then no sleeping-cars, together with my interest in watching
my fellow travellers, had prevented my getting any sleep the night
before. When, therefore, I had been escorted to the home of my host
and forthwith informed that within two hours a delegation of students
would visit me, for the double purpose of extending a welcome and
of giving instructions as to the topics on which they wished to be
lectured to, I made bold to go to bed and leave word that I should be
glad to see them if they would return about noon. At the appointed
hour this first meeting with Japanese students face to face, in their
native land, came off. It was conducted with an appropriately polite
solemnity by both parties. An elaborate interchange of greetings and
compliments began the interview; and then the future speaker listened
attentively and patiently, while the delegation from a portion of his
future audience recited the subjects about which they deemed it best
for him to speak. The reply was to the effect that the subjects for the
course of lectures had already been selected and carefully prepared:
the program, therefore, could not be altered; but some of the topics
coincided closely with the program suggested by the Committee; and a
series of conversations would accompany the lectures, at which the
topics not provided for in the course of lectures could be brought up
for discussion in the form of question and answer.
This experience and others somewhat similar, which followed with
sufficient rapidity, early taught me a valuable lesson for all
subsequent intercourse with the Japanese--young and old, and
irrespective of distinctions of classes. With full right, and on a
basis of history and racial characteristics, they do not gratefully
tolerate being looked down upon, or even condescended to, by
foreigners. But they respect, as we Anglo-Saxons do, the person who
deals with them in manly frankness, and on terms of manly equality.
And they admire and practice more than we do, the proper mixture of
quietness and politeness in manner with courage and firmness at the
heart (_suaviter in modo, fortiter in re_). In his admirable volumes on
the Russo-Japanese war, General Ian Hamilton tells the story of how he
asked some of the Japanese military authorities, What they considered
the most essential quality for a great field-marshal or general in
conducting a battle; and how the reply was these simple words: “_Du
calme._” The private soldier--although not in accordance with his
best service of the cause--may indulge in the wild excitement which
Lieutenant Sakurai’s “Human Bullets” depicts in such horribly graphic
manner; but not so the officer in command of the field. He must keep
the cool head and the unperturbed heart, with its steady pulse-beat, if
he is going to fight successfully an up-hill battle.
After only two days of lecturing at Doshisha, the institution founded
by Neesima, the unveiling of whose portrait has lately been celebrated
at Amherst College where he graduated some thirty years ago, the
weekly holiday arrived; and with it the time for an excursion down the
rapids of the Katsura-gawa, which was to give me the first views of
country scenes and country customs in Japan. The day was as bright and
beautiful as a day in early June can possibly be. Nowhere else in the
world, where I have been, are one’s pleasant impressions and happiness
in country excursions more completely dependent upon the weather than
in the Land of the “Rising Sun.” Although this sun is of the kind which
“smites you by day” in the Summer months, you can easily guard against
its smiting by use of pith hat and umbrella; but you cannot so readily
defend your spirits against the depressing effect of day after day of
cloud and down-pour or drizzle of rain.
The starting at half-past seven o’clock made necessary an early
rising and an early breakfast; but this is custom and no hardship in
the Summer time of Japan. Indeed it has often seemed to me that the
Japanese in the cities at this time of the year do not go to bed at
all. The insufficiency of sleep is probably one chief reason for the
prevalence of nervous disorders among this class of the population.
It is somewhat compensated for, however, by the wonderful ability of
the coolies, which they possess in common with Orientals generally,
of falling asleep and waking up, like the opening and shutting of a
jack-knife.
It is not quite possible for the most gifted master of the descriptive
style to depict the charm of the first jinrikisha ride out into the
country surrounding Kyoto. At least, the charm experienced by me on
the occasion of this excursion will never be forgotten. The excellent
road; the durable and handsome stone bridges; the continuous gardens
and frequent villages; the perpetual stir along the highway, with the
multitude of jinrikishas and two-wheeled carts,--some drawn by men
and boys, and some by bulls, mostly black,--or of foot-passengers,
coming into the city on business or going into the country bent on
pleasure;--all these made the entire journey exceedingly lively and
interesting. Further out, in the more solitary places, were the
terraces covered with verdure and flowers, the hills carpeted with
what looked like large and luxurious ferns, but which really was
“mountain grass,” and the water-falls; but perhaps most beautiful of
all, the bamboo groves, whose slender trunks and delicate foliage threw
a matchless chiaroscuro upon the brilliantly coloured ground below.
Here was indeed a genuine _chiaroscuro_; for the parts in shadow had
“the clearness and warmth of those in light, and those in light the
depth and softness of those in shadow.”
What might have been a ridiculous or even a dangerous adventure met
us at the mouth of the long tunnel which the work of the government
has substituted for the ancient mountain pass. For, as we reached
the spot and were about to enter its mouth, strange noises issuing
from within made us pause to investigate their cause. On peering into
the darkness, we were able to make out that a full-grown male of the
domestic bovine species had broken the straw rope by which two coolies
were leading him, and was charging toward our end of the tunnel with
all the bellowing and antic fury which is wont to characterise this
animal under similar circumstances. It did not seem that the issue
of an encounter between us in jinrikishas and the bull, in so narrow
a passage with high and roofed-over stone walls on either side,
would be to our advantage. We therefore laid aside our dignity, got
down from our jinrikishas, and squeezed both ourselves and them as
closely as possible against the side of the cut at the end of the
tunnel. Fortunately we had not long to wait in this position of rather
uncertain security. For either the sight of us, barring his passage,
or some trick of his own brain, induced the infuriated animal to turn
about and make his exit at the other end of the tunnel; and after
waiting long enough to place a sufficient distance between the two
parties, we continued our journey without further adventure.
On reaching Hozu, the village where the boat was to be taken for the
rapids, we found that President Kozaki and one of his teachers were
waiting for us. Some one-hundred and twenty boys of the Preparatory
School, who had risen in the night and walked out to Hozu, had started
down the rapids several hours before. The boat in waiting for our
party was of the style considered safest and most manageable by the
experienced boatmen, who during the previous fifteen years had piloted
thousands of persons down the Katsura-gawa, at all stages of its
waters, with a loss of only five lives. The boat was very broad for
its length, low, and light; with its bottom only slightly curved, fore
and aft, and toward both sides. So thin were the boards between the
passengers and the swift, boiling waters, that one could feel them bend
like paper as we shot over the waves. We sat upon blankets laid on the
bottom of the boat. There were four boatmen;--one steersman with a long
oar, in the stern, two oarsmen on the same side, toward the bank of the
river, in the middle of the boat, and one man with a pole, in the bow.
Once only during thirteen miles of rapids between Hozu and Arashi-yama
did the boat strike a rock, from which it bounded off lightly;--the
sole result being a somewhat sharp interchange of opinion as to who was
to blame, between the steersman and the other boatmen.
[Illustration: “THE CHARM OF THE SCENERY ALONG THE BANKS”]
The excitement of the ride did not in any respect interfere with a
constant and increasing admiration of the charm of the scenery along
the banks of the river. The canyon of the stream and the surrounding
hills were equally beautiful. The nearer banks were adorned with bamboo
groves, the attractiveness of whose delicately contrasted or blended
light and shadows has already been referred to; and at this season,
great clumps of azaleas--scarlet, pink, and crimson--made spots of
brilliant colouring upon the sober background of moss and fern and soil
and rock.
The average trip down the rapids of the Katsura-gawa occupies
two hours. But the favourable stage of the water, helped out by the
skilful management of the craft on this occasion, brought us to the
landing place at Arashi-yama in scarcely more than an hour and a
half. Our entire course may be described in the guide-book style as
follows: “Of the numerous small rapids and races, the following are
a few of the most exciting:--_Koya no taki_, or ‘Hut Rapids,’ a long
race terminating in a pretty rapid, the passage being narrow between
artificially constructed embankments of rock; _Takase_, or ‘High
Rapids’; _Shishi no Kuchi_, or ‘The Lion’s Mouth’; and _Tonase-daki_
‘the last on the descent, where the river rushes between numerous rocks
and islets.’”
Arashi-yama, made picturesque by its hills everywhere covered with pine
trees, its plantations of cherry trees which are said to have been
brought from Yoshino in the thirteenth century by the Emperor Kameyama,
and its justly celebrated maple groves, was an appropriately beautiful
spot for the termination of our excursion. After taking luncheon in one
of its tea-houses,--my first meal, squatted on the mats, in Japanese
style,--my host and I left the rest of the party and went back to his
home in the city by jinrikishas. On the way we stopped at one of those
oldest, smallest, and most obscure of ancient temples, which so often
in Japan are overlooked by the tourist, but which not infrequently
are of all others best worth the visiting. Here the mild-mannered,
sincere old priest opened everything freely to our inspection, lighted
the tapers and replenished the incense sticks; and even allowed us
the very unusual privilege of handling the sacred things about the
idols. Finally, putting a paper-covering over his mouth, and after much
prayer, he approached on his knees the “holy of holies,” drew aside the
gilt screens and showed us the inner shrine; and he then took out the
shoes belonging to the god and let us handle and admire them.
From his point of view, the pious custodian of the sacred relics
was indulging in an altogether justifiable pride. For the temple of
Uzumasa is one of the oldest in Japan. It was founded in A. D. 604,
by Shōtoku Taishi, the Japanese Constantine, who consecrated it to
Buddhist gods whose images had been brought from Korea. Although the
original buildings were burned some centuries ago, the relics and
specimens of the most ancient art were fortunately saved. Nowhere else
in the whole country, except at Nara or Hōryūji--and there only to
those who are favoured with special privileges by the Government--can
such a multitude of these things be seen and studied. The antiquarian
interest in them is just now enhanced by the fact that many of them,
although called Japanese, were really made either in Korea or else
under the instruction of Korean teachers. It is one of the shiftings of
human history which has now placed upon the Japanese the responsibility
of instructing in every kind of modern art their former teachers.
The accessories and incidents of my second excursion to the rapids
of the Katsura-gawa were of a totally different order. The day was
in early March of 1907, bright and beautiful, but somewhat cool for
such a venture. At the Nijo station--for one could now reach the upper
rapids by rail--my wife and I met President Harada and one of the
lady teachers of Doshisha, and two of the Professors of the Imperial
University. Passes and a present of envelopes containing a number of
pretty picture cards, from the Manager of the Kyoto Railway Company,
were waiting for the party. The ride to the village of Kameoka was
pleasant, although even the earliest of the plum blossoms had not yet
appeared to beautify the landscape.
I had been anticipating a day of complete freedom for recreation; but
the Christian pastor of the village, who had kindly arranged for our
boat, had with equal kindness of intention toward his parish, betrayed
our coming; and the inevitable under such circumstances happened. The
usual committee of Mayor, representatives of the schools and others,
were at the station to welcome us. “Could I not visit the Primary
School and say a few words--just show myself, indeed--to the children
who were all waiting eager with expectation?” Of course, Yes: for how
could so reasonable a request, so politely proffered, be reasonably and
politely denied? Besides, the children were encouraged to plant and
care for trees about the school-buildings; and it was greatly desired
that I should plant one to commemorate our visit. Of course, again,
Yes. Soon, then, a long row of jinrikishas, holding both hosts and
guests, was being hurried over the mile or more separating the station
from the nearest school-building. On drawing near we found some 500 or
600 children--first the boys and then the girls--ranged along on either
side of the roadway; and between them, all bowing as they are carefully
trained to do in Japanese style and waving flags of both countries, we
passed, until we were discharged at the door of the large school-house
hall.
[Illustration: “TO TEND THESE TREES BECAME A PRIVILEGE”]
After luncheon was finished, I assisted at the planting of two small
fir-trees just in front of the building, by dropping into the hole
the first two or three mattocks full of earth. We were then conducted
to the play-ground near by, where the whole school was drawn up in the
form of a hollow square. Here, from one end of the square, I spoke
to the children for not more than ten minutes, and President Harada
interpreted; after which the head-master made a characteristically
poetical response by way of thanks,--saying that the memory of the
visit and the impression of the words spoken would be evergreen, like
the tree which had been planted, and expressing the wish that the
future long lives of both their guests might be symbolised by the life
of the tree. To tend these trees became a privilege for which the
pupils of the school have since kept up a friendly rivalry.
The excursionists were quite naturally desirous of getting off promptly
upon the postponed pleasure trip; but this was not even yet easily
to be done. For now followed the request to visit two schools of the
higher grade and make a short talk to the pupils in them. I compromised
on the condition that the two should be gathered into the same
assembly; and this was cheerfully, and for the Japanese, promptly done.
The combined audience made about three-hundred of each sex--older boys
and girls--standing close together, one on one side and the other on
the other side of the room, in soldier-like ranks, facing the speaker
with curious and eager eyes, but with most exemplary behaviour. Again I
spoke for ten minutes; after which followed the interpretation and the
address of thanks and of promise to remember and put into practice the
speaker’s injunctions.
At the termination of this ceremony, I said--I fear a little
abruptly--“_Arigato_” (“Thank you”) and “_Sayonara_” (“Good-bye”) and
started to go. But I was brought to a halt by the suggestive, “_Dozo,
chotto_” (“In a moment, please”) and then asked to give the boys of the
school a chance to precede us to the river bank on foot, from which
they wished to see us off and to bid us a Japanese good-bye. And who
that knows what a Japanese “good-bye,” when genuine and hearty, really
is, would not give more than a single little moment, at almost any
juncture, to be the recipient of one? The boys, thereupon, filed out in
good military fashion; and after giving them a fair start, we took our
jinrikishas again and were carried to the river’s bank. It was still
some little time before the boat was ready; and then the party, seated
on the blankets and secured against the cold by a covering of rugs,
accompanied by the pastor and one of the teachers as an escort,
started down the river. Several hundred yards below our starting point,
the three-hundred school boys stood in single file along the bank, and
continued to “banzai” in their best style until a turn in the river hid
them from our sight.
I have dwelt at such length on this seemingly trivial incident, because
I should be glad to give an adequate impression of the influence of
the lower grades of the public schools of Japan in inculcating lessons
of order and politeness upon the children of the nation; and in this
way preparing them for fitting in well with the existing social order
and for obedience to the sovereign authority of the Emperor, of their
parents, and in general of their elders. The common impression that
Japanese babies are born so little nervous or so good-natured that they
never cry, is indeed far enough from the truth. They do cry, as all
healthy babies should, when hurt or when grieved; or, with particular
vehemence, when mad. They are almost without exception injudiciously
indulged by their parents, their nurses, and in truth by everybody
else. But from the time the boy or girl begins to attend school, an
astonishing change takes place. How far this change is due to the
influence of the teacher’s instruction and example, and how far to
the spirit and practice of the older pupils, it is perhaps not easy
to say. But, in school, both sexes are immediately placed under a
close-fitting system of physical and intellectual drill. Thus the pride
and ambition of all are called out by the effort to succeed and to
excel. The Imperial rescripts, the wise sayings and noble achievements
of ancient sages and heroes, the arousement of that spirit which is
called “Bushidō” or “Yamato-Damashii,” the appeal to the pride and
love of country, and instruction in ethics--as the Japanese understand
ethics--prolonged from the kindergarten to the University;--all these
means are employed in the public system of education with the intention
of producing citizens serviceable to the State. They are all needed in
the effort of the Government to control the ferment of new ideas and
the pressure of the new forces which are shaping the future commercial,
political, and social life of the nation, perhaps too rapidly for its
own good.
For the interested and sympathetic teacher of children there are
no more delightful experiences than may be had by visiting and
observing the primary grades of the public schools of Japan. I have
had the pleasure of speaking to several thousands of their pupils.
At the summons, the boys would come filing in on one side, and the
girls on the other side, of the large assembly room with which every
well-appointed school-house is now being provided; and as quietly
as drilled and veteran soldiers they would form themselves into a
compacted phalanx of the large style of ancient Macedonia. Six hundred
pairs of bright black eyes are then gazing steadily and unflinchingly,
but with a quiet and engaging respectfulness, into the eyes of the
speaker. And if his experience is like my own, he will never see the
slightest sign of inattention, impatience, or disorder, on the part of
a single one of his childish auditors. Further, as to the effect of
this upon the older boys when out of school: Although I have been in a
considerable number of places, both in the cities and in the country
places of Japan, I have never seen two Japanese boys quarrelling or
even behaving rudely toward each other so far as their language was
concerned. The second item of “advice” in the “Imperial Rescript to the
Army and Navy,” which precedes even the exhortation--“It is incumbent
on soldiers to be brave and courageous”--reads as follows: “Soldiers
must be polite in their behaviour and ways. In the army and navy, there
are hierarchical ranks from the Marshal to the private or bluejacket
which bind together the whole for purposes of command, and there are
the gradations of seniority within the same rank. The junior must
obey the senior; the inferior must take orders from the superior, who
transmits them to Our direct command; and inferior and junior officers
and men must pay respect to their superiors and seniors, even though
they be not their direct superiors and seniors. Superiors must never
be haughty and proud toward those of lower rank, and severity of
discipline must be reserved for exceptional cases. In all other cases
superiors must treat those beneath them with kindness and especial
clemency, so that all men may unite as one man in the service of the
country. If you do not observe courtesy of behaviour, if inferiors
treat their superiors with disrespect, or superiors their inferiors
with harshness, if, in a word, the harmonious relations between
superiors and inferiors be lost, you will be not only playing havoc
with the army, but committing serious crimes against the country.”
The success in blending courage with courtesy, bravery with politeness,
which this way of disciplining the youth of the country may attain,
and actually has attained in Japan, is a complete refutation of the
silly notion--so common, alas! in Anglo-Saxon and Christian lands,
that haughtiness in “superiors” and insolence in “inferiors,” together
with the readiness to fight one’s fellows with fists, swords, or
pistols, is a necessary part of a soldier’s preparation for the most
successful resistance to the enemies of one’s country. It is difficult
to conceive of more impressive lessons regarding the effects produced
by different systems of education upon different racial characteristics
than that afforded by the following two incidents. For some weeks in
the Autumn of 1899 I occupied a house in Tokyo, from the rooms of which
nearly everything going on in one of the large public schools of the
city could be either overheard or overlooked. But not once did a harsh
word or a loud cry reach our ears, or a rude and impolite action our
eyes. But during a residence of a fortnight in similar proximity to
one of the best Christian colleges of India, there was scarcely an
hour of the school day when some seemingly serious uproar was not in
evidence in the room beneath our window. And it was not an uncommon
thing to observe both pupil and teacher standing on their feet and
vociferously “sassing” each other,--with one or more of the other
pupils occasionally chiming in. More suggestive of vital differences,
however, is another experience of mine. Toward the close of the
Russo-Japanese war a Japanese pupil, a Buddhist priest, who had fought
in the Chino-Japanese war and had been decorated for his bravery,
had been called out into the “reserves.” A letter received from him
while his regiment was still waiting to be ordered to the front, after
telling how he had left the school for “temple-boys,” which he had
founded on his return from his studies in this country, and of which
he was the Dean, added these pregnant words: “Pray for us, that we
may have success and victory.” Now it so happened that almost the
same mail which brought this letter, carried to another member of my
family a letter from a Christian Hindū, who had come to this country
for theological study. In this letter, too, there was an appeal to our
pious sympathy; but it took the following form: “Pray for me, that I
may be able to bear the cold.” Surely, Great Britain need not fear an
uprising of the “intellectuals” in India, so long as its _babus_ are
educated in such manner as to foster so unenduring character, however
gifted in philosophical speculation and eloquence of speech.
The system of education now established in Japan, both in its
Universities and in its public schools, has still many weaknesses
and deficiencies, and some glaring faults. Nor are Japanese boys,
especially when they have grown older and become more wise in their
own eyes, always agreeable to their teachers, or easy to manage and
to instruct. But of all this we may perhaps conclude to speak at
another time. This at any rate is certain: There are few memories in
the life-time of at least one American teacher, which he more gladly
recalls, and more delights to cherish, than those which signalise his
many meetings with the school children of Japan: and among them all,
not the least pleasant is that of the three hundred boys of Kameoka,
standing in a row upon the banks of the Katsura-gawa and shouting their
“banzais” to the departing boat.
And, indeed, having already described with sufficient fulness how
one runs the rapids, admires the banks, perhaps visits a shrine or a
tea-house on the way, and arrives in safety to find refreshment and
rest at Arashi-yama, there is nothing more worth saying to be said on
the subject.