THE POLICEMAN AND THE SOLDIER
The Japanese policeman is, first and foremost, a gentleman. He is a
samurai, a man of good family, and therefore deeply respected by the mass
of the people. He is often a small man for a Japanese, but though his
height may run from four feet ten to five feet nothing, he is a man of much
authority. When the samurai were disbanded, there were very few occupations
to which they could turn. They disdained agriculture and trade, but numbers
of them became servants, printers, and policemen. This seems an odd mixture
of tasks, but there are sound reasons for it.
Many samurai became servants because service is an honourable profession in
Japan; many became printers because the samurai were an educated class, and
the only people fitted to deal with the very complicated Japanese alphabet;
and many became policemen because it was a post for which their fighting
instinct and their habit of authority well fitted them. Their authority
over the people is absolute and unquestioning; and, again, there are sound
reasons for this.
[Illustration: THE FEAST OF FLAGS]
Forty years ago the Japanese people could have been divided very sharply
into two classes, the ruling and the ruled. The ruling class was formed
of the great Princes and the samurai, their followers, about 2,000,000
people in all. The remaining 38,000,000 of the population were the common
people, the ruled. Now, in the old days when a Daimio left his castle for
a journey, he was borne in a kago, a closed carriage, and was attended
by a guard of his samurai. If a common person met the procession, he was
expected either to retire quickly from the path or fling himself humbly on
his face until the carriage had gone by; if he did not, the samurai whipped
out their long swords and slew him in short order, and not a single word
was said about it. This way of dealing with those who did not belong to the
two-sworded class made the people very respectful to the samurai, and that
respect is now transferred to the police.
The Japanese policeman is also to be respected for his skill in wrestling,
and, small as he is, the tallest and most powerful foreigner is quite
helpless in his hands. He is thoroughly trained in the art of Japanese
wrestling--the jiu-jitsu of which we hear so much nowadays. In this system
a trained wrestler can seize his opponent in such a manner that the other
man is quite at his mercy, or with a slight impetus he can fling the other
about as he pleases. One writer speaks of seeing a very small Japanese
policeman arrest a huge, riotous Russian sailor, a man much more than six
feet high. It seemed a contest between a giant and a child. The sailor made
rush after rush at his tiny opponent, but the policeman stepped nimbly
aside, waiting for the right moment to grip his man. At last it came.
The sailor made a furious lunge, and the policeman seized him by the
wrist. To the astonishment of the onlooker, the sailor flew right over the
policeman's head, and fell all in a heap more than a dozen feet away. When
he picked himself up, confused and half stunned, the policeman tied a bit
of string to his belt and led him away in triumph to the station.
The policeman never has any trouble with his own people; they obey at once
and without question. If a crowd gathers and becomes a nuisance to anyone,
it melts as soon as one of the little men in uniform comes along and gives
the order to disperse. He may sometimes be seen lecturing a coolie or
rickshaw-boy for some misdeed or other. The culprit, his big hat held
between his hands, ducks respectfully at every second word, and looks all
humility and obedience.
Being an educated man, he has much sympathy with art and artists, and is
delighted to help a foreigner who is painting scenes in Japan. Mr. Mortimer
Menpes says: "Altogether I found the policeman the most delightful person
in the world. When I was painting a shop, if a passer-by chanced to look in
at a window, he would see at a glance exactly what I wanted; and I would
find that that figure would remain there, looking in at the shop, as still
as a statue, until I had finished my painting; the policeman meanwhile
strutting up and down the street, delighted to be of help to an artist,
looking everywhere but at my work, and directing the entire traffic down
another street."
Of the Japanese soldier there is no need for us to say much here, since
the world has so lately been ringing with his praises. The endurance, the
obedience, the courage of the Japanese soldier and sailor have been shown
in marvellous fashion during the great war with Russia, and Japan has fully
proved herself to be one of the greatest of the naval and military Powers
of the world.
The Japanese soldier is the result of the family life in Japan. From his
infancy he is taught that he has two supreme duties: one of obedience
to his parents, the other of service to his country. This unhesitating,
unquestioning habit of obedience, a habit which becomes second nature to
him, is of immense value to him as a soldier. He is a disciplined man
before he enters the ranks, and he transfers at once to his officers the
obedience which he has hitherto shown towards the elders of his family.
His second great duty of service to his country also leads him onward
towards becoming the perfect soldier. He not only looks upon his life as a
thing to be readily risked or given for his Emperor and for Japan, but he
strives to make himself a thoroughly capable servant of his land. No detail
of his duty is too small for him to overlook, for he fears lest the lack
of that detail should prevent him from putting forth his full strength on
the day of trial. He cleans a button as carefully as he lays a big gun,
and this readiness for any duty, great or small, was a large factor in the
wonderful victory of Japan over Russia.
In battle he questions no order. During the late war many Japanese
regiments knew that they were being sent to certain death, in order that
they might open a way for their comrades. They never flinched. Shouting
their "Banzai!"--their Japanese hurrah--the dogged little men rushed
forward upon batteries spouting flame and shell, or upon ramparts lined
with rifles, and gave their lives freely for Dai Nippon, Great Japan, the
country of their birth.