^SUNRISE IN THE^t SUNRISE KINGDOM JOHN H.DE FOREST, D.D. FORWARD MISSION t^STUDY COURSES^ Class^BV34-4-^" Book ,21^u Copyright^ COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. The Forward Mission Study Courses Anywhere, provided it be forward." — David Livingstone. Prepared under the auspices of the YOUNG PEOPLE'S MISSIONARY MOVEMENT Editorial Committee: — S. Earl Taylor, Harry Wade Hicks, John Willis Baer, John W. Wood. The Forward Mission Study Courses are an outgrowth of a conference of leaders in Young People's Mission Work, held in New York City, December, 1901. To meet the need that was manifested at that conference, for Mission Study Text-Books suitable for Young People, two of the delegates, Professor Amos R. Wells, of the United Society of Christian Endeavor and Mr. S. Earl Taylor, Chairman of the General Missionary Committee of the Epworfh League, projected the Forward Mission Study Courses. These courses have been officially adopted by the Young People's Missionary Movement and are now under the immediate direction of the Executive Committee of the Move- ment, which consists of the young people's secretaries or other official representatives of fifteen of the leading Missionary Boards of America. The aim is to publish a series of text-books covering the various home and foreign mission fields and written by leading authorities with special reference to the needs of young people. The entire series when completed will comprise perhaps as many as twenty text-books. A general account will be given of some of the smaller countries, such as Japan, Korea and Turkey ; but, for the larger fields, as China, Africa, and India, the general account will be supplemented by a series of biographies of the principal missionaries connected with the country. The various home mission fields will also be treated both biographically and historically. The following text-books have been published: — 1. The Price of Africa. (Biographical.) By S. Earl Taylor. 2. Into AH the World. A general survey of missions. By Amos R. Wells. 3. Princely Men In the Heavenly Kingdom. (Biographical.) By Harlan P. Beach, M. A., F. R. G. S. 4. Child Life in Mission Lands. A course of study for Junior Societies. By Ralph E. Diffendorfer. 5. Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom. A Study of Japan. By Rev. John H. De Forest, D. D. 6. Heroes of the Cross in America. Home missons. (Bio- graphical.) By Don O. Shelton. Among the writers that have been secured for other text- books of the series, are Bishop J. M. Thoburn, D. D., of India ; Bishop J. C. Hartzell, D. D., of Africa ; Harry Wade Hicks ; S. Earl Taylor; Robert E. Speer; William Carey, of India; Rev. E. E. Strong, D. D.; Rev. Edward Judson, D. D.; and Rev. J. M. Buckley, D. D. These books are published by mutual arrangement among the denominational publishing houses, to whom all orders should be addressed. They are bound uniformly, and are sold for 50 cents, in cloth, and 35 cents, in paper. Study classes desiring more difficult text-books are referred to the admirable series published by the interdenominational committee of the Woman's Boards. The volumes already pub- lished are : — Via Christi. A Study of Missions before Carey. By Louise Manning Hodgkins. Lux Christi. A Study of Missions in India. By Caroline Atwater Mason. Rex Christus. A Study of Missions in China. " By Rev. Arthur H. Smith, D. D. Dux Christus. A Study of Missions in Japan. By Rev. W. E. Griffis, D. D, REV. JOHN H. DE FOREST. D.D. The Forward Mission Study Courses • EDITED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE YOUNG PEOPLE'S MISSIONARY MOVEMENT Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom By JOHN H. De FOREST, D. D. THE YOUNG PEOPLE'S MISSIONARY MOVEMENT NEW Y O R K .3* UEPARY *» C0N6RESS Two CoDies Secetved JUN 13 1904 Oooyrteht Entry CLASS O- XXO. Na 303 n OPY B Copyriglit, 1904, by The Young People's Missionary Movement Introductory Note In the following pages Dr. De Forest has accomplished a work as delicate as it is im- portant. To deal with a great subject in a simple way is a mark of power, especially when that subject is removed from the sphere of American experience " as far as the East is from the West." It may be said that much interest in Japan is felt throughout Chris- tian circles in America. But that interest lacks depth and definition. Beyond the notion that a spirit of progress prevails in modern Japan and that that progress consists in the assimilation of Western customs and ideas, there is much vagueness and no little misap- prehension. And these occur from no lack of good and illuminating books, dealing with Japan from various points of view. There are such books and they are read with appre- ciation. Yet one whose privilege has been to come near to the soul of Japan, through inter- course with its leaders, realizes how difficult it is to make those aspirations fully understood by Western minds. Some have written sympathetically of Introductory Note Japan, yet without knowledge; and some, writing with much knowledge, have lacked sympathy. In either case, the subject has been presented with misleading limitations. The readers of this book will find in it first- hand knowledge of facts, tempered with sympathetic appreciation of their meanings and relations. The training of the author has been felicitous. For many years he has lived in a part of the Empire relatively far from direct Western influences ; and so, emerging more slowly and with more normal self-expres- sion from the old feudalism into the new regime of a constitutional monarchy. Sendai, Dr. De Forest's home, is far removed from the cosmopolitanism of Yokohama and Tokyo. Yet it is a thought centre of immense importance to the civil and military life of the nation. It is a place where the traditions of ancient glory mix with the new thought of the awakened Empire, and where the bearing of the past on the present can be studied apart from the confusing intervention of European detail. At Sendai, the seat of influence for Northern Japan, has the author resided throughout a large part of the new era of Meiji — or Enlightenment. He has lived, it is true, during this period, the life of a mission- ary. He has been loyal and outspoken in his allegiance to the Divine Saviour ; fruitful in Introductory Note evangelistic labours. Yet, with this diligence as an ambassador for Christ, he has combined a respect for the ancestral religious experience of the Japanese people, and an appreciation of their finer feelings that has won the confi- dence and affection of those in high stations. During the later momentous years of the Meiji Era (Era of Enlightenment), Dr. De Forest has been persona grata in the inner circles of Japanese culture, and has enjoyed unusual opportunities to know the truth concerning the motives that govern and the ideas that attract the best representatives of Japanese society. He has been sought as a counsellor and cherished as a friend by officers of the government, directors of education, and makers of public opinion. He has seen very clearly that the larger mission of Christian teachers in Japan is to disseminate that vital essence of revelation which, because of its universal validity, takes up into itself what- ever in any faith is of the truth, gathering together all things in one, even in Christ, the very God. Dr. De Forest has realized the noble ele- ments in Japanese thought and has not neglected to point them out with appreciation. It is strange that Christians ever should be- grudge the acknowledgment of good in non-Christian faiths, when the presence of that Introductory Note good attests the universal working of the Holy Spirit. It is strange, too, that we are so ready to insist that the Christian life of an Eastern nation must, if it be genuine, move on the same lines of institutional and dogmatic development as those that have determined the religious history of Europe and America. Rather ought we to rejoice in the growth of an Eastern type of Christian theology and in- stitutionalism, seeing therein the confirmation of St. Paul's large-minded view : " There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. . . . All these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will." The simplicity of this book is one of its strong points. It will be understood without difficulty. But those who read it with dis- cernment will read between the lines the wide- ness of the author's range of observation, the reality of his love for his subject, and his anxious longing that the forces now stirring Japanese society to its depths may, under the control and inspiration of the Divine Spirit, lead to the reconstruction of the national life upon the basis of evangelical faith. Charles Cuthbekt Hall. Union Theological Seminary, May 1, 1904. Contents I. The Country .... . II II. The People ..... 39 III. The Religions .... 65 IV. The First and Second Coming of Chris- tianity .... 93 V. Forms of Mission Work 113 VI. Forms of Mission Work — Continued 137 VII. The Forces at Work 161 VIII. The Outlook .... Appendixes • 189 A. Some Suggestions as to How to St udy the Text-Book . ... 207 B. Suggestions for Pronunciation of Japanese Words 21 1 C Important Dates and Events in the History of Japan 213 D. Bibliography .... 217 E. Statistical Tables . 222 F. Analytical Index . 225 List of Illustrations Rev. John H. De Forest, D. D. Facing title page Peerless Fuji . Facing page 16 Japanese Christian Family a " 43 Shinto Shrines ft It 66 Images of Kwannon in Buddhis t Temple, Kyoto tt ft 73 Decree Against Christianity . Page 9 6 Evangelistic, Educational, and Med- ical Work Facing page 1 1 8 Philanthropic and Literary Work tt « 142 Some Founders and Leaders . " tt 168 Union Christian Mission Hall tt " 196 Map of Japanese Empire . Page 2 34 I THE COUNTRY Since nearly every one knows that Japan is size of an Island Empire just East of China and Korea, there is no need of giving figures of latitude and longitude. It is enough to bear in mind that if you imagine Japan lying off the Eastern coast of the United States, it would overlap the whole coast from above Maine to Cuba, and the capital, Tokyo, would be off Cape Hatteras. This chain of islands is over two thousand miles long, but as the land does not average one hundred miles in width, there are only about 162,000 square miles in all. Compared with European states, this makes a fair show, since the British Islands, with Hol- land and Belgium thrown in, would be no larger. But the United States is twenty times as large, and all Japan could be set down inside of California or Texas. Present-day Japan, in the main, consists of Islands four large islands, Hokkaido, Hondo, Shikoku, Empire* "* and Kyushu, together with Formosa, which has 15,000 square miles, and so increases the size of the Empire by one-tenth ; for this island 12 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom was acquired by Japan in 1895 as one result of the war with China. After Japan gained Formosa, the United States annexed the Philippines, and thus these two nations that were four thousand five hundred and sixty miles apart, are now by these two possessions only about two hundred miles from each other. The number of islands in the Japanese Empire nobody knows. Some are so small that they disappear in the time of floods. But those whose circumference is over two and one-half miles number 487, with a coast-line of 18,580 miles. Geological This chain of islands is virtually an immense mountain range raised up out of the Pacific Ocean about the same time, geologically, as the Eocky Mountains. If Japan were raised a thousand feet higher, it would cease to be an island, and would be joined to Asia, just as the Eockies are a part of America. "When Japan began to appear, its whole length was almost north and south, and extended down to thirty degrees latitude. Even now a great submerged chain of mountains runs from the Tokyo region south, and the peaks appear on the maps as groups of little islands. Some mighty convulsion seems to have wrenched and bent the lower half of Japan toward the west, and almost to have broken it away from the northern half. Formation The Country 13 The formation of these islands is not yet finished, for Japan is still slowly rising from the Pacific with a movement so gentle that the strata in large sections remain perfectly level. The wide and fruitful plain around Tokyo, only a few hundred years ago, was a vast inlet of the ocean. The place where the second city of the Empire, Osaka, now stands, was a part of the beautiful Inland Sea some 400 years ago. There are bluffs in the northern part of Japan 200 feet high, to the tops of which the fishermen used to fasten their boats. Because earthquakes and volcanoes have Resulting played such a prominent part in the making of rf 1 "^ of this Empire, it is a land of wondrous beauty. These fearful agents have not yet completed their work. Travellers from San Francisco are greeted with the smoke of a living volcano, as they approach Yokohama Bay, and they who ride on the cars may occasionally see a grand column of smoke rising thousands of feet from the crater of some near volcano. How beautiful is the slope of the peerless Fujiyama rising 12,365 feet from the level of the ocean ! There are other magnificent volcanic mountains in the world, but none that rise so high, with one unbroken curve, as Fuji. Everywhere mountains, little and large, are in sight. They are partly covered with bam- 14 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom boo groves and woods, amid which are innum- erable cascades and waterfalls, while the val- leys below are of every conceivable shape, all continually delighting the eye with ever-vary- ing beauty. It is this exceptional scenery that attracts many tourists from foreign lands. And it is this perpetual beauty that has made the people all lovers of the beautiful, which is reflected in their houses, their clothes, their gardens, and their household utensils. Loss of Life Volcanic forces are fearfully deadly at times. involved g ome vears a g 0) more than a thousand feet of Mt. Bandai blew off in an hour and killed 460 people living in adjacent villages. The erupted matter made a wide dam across the mountain valley, and thus created a lakelet of rare beauty 4,000 feet above sea level. But a few months ago, a little island, Torishima, one of the peaks of that submerged range south of Tokyo, exploded, killing all on the island. Pages could be filled with accounts of the ter- rible devastations wrought by these volcanoes. Hot Springs But, nevertheless, these destructive forces have Beneficial been most beneficial to the millions of Japan. This may sound strange, but there would cer- tainly have been no such beautiful Japan but for what these giant forces have done, and without them there would be none of the health-giving hot springs with which the land is studded. There are over 1,000 of these The Country 15 springs, most of them mineral, and nearly all of them abounding in curative properties. Just imagine 1,000 hot springs scattered over New England, New York and Pennsylvania ! What a difference it would make in the cus- toms of the people ! This is the secret of the cleanliness of the Japanese. Nature has fur- nished free hot baths which are numbered among the cherished treasures of the Empire. So there is comparatively little level ground in these islands. About one-sixth is under Destruction by cultivation, and a few tens of thousands of a aves acres are being added yearly to the cultivated region. The larger part of this arable portion is near the coast and less than 100 feet above the sea level, so that a huge tidal wave might easily sweep out of existence all the great cities, and indeed half the population of the Empire. Even the little tidal wave of 1894, so small that it was unnoticed by fishermen a mile or two from shore, acquired such force as it entered the narrow bays along the north- eastern coast, that it rose to a height of eighty feet in some places, and destroyed 30,000 peo- ple. While Japan was still a hermit nation, a huge tidal wave swept the southern coast and carried off over 100,000 persons. Until Japan annexed Formosa, the highest mountain was Fuji}'ama. But Formosa car- ries on its back Mt. Shintaka, 14,000 feet in i6 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom height, thus relegating Fuji to the second place. But Shintaka can never usurp the af- fections of the people, for Fuji has always been the ideal of beauty, and also a source of The - Peerless profound religious thought. Even should Ja- ountan pan annex all the highest mountains of the world, Fuji would still be the people's Peerless Mountain. It is on their lacquer trays, on silks, in paintings and carvings. To many, it is a sacred place, and thousands of pilgrims make the difficult ascent every summer. The words of the Shinto priest, Mr. Shibata, at the Chicago Parliament of Keligions, show how the mountain is regarded : " We ought to rever- ence the famous Fuji, assuming it to be the sacred abode of the divine Lord, and as the brain of the whole globe. Every child of the Heavenly Deity ought to make Fuji the ex- ample and emblem of his thought and action. For instance, he must be plain and simple as the form of the mountain, and make his body and mind pure as the mountain is serene." Japan being a narrow range of mountain- covered islands, there can be no large navi- The Longest gable rivers unless they run in the general di- rection of the backbone, and, naturally, they will be few. Just as people are surprised to learn that the highest mountain of Japan is far south in Formosa, so it excites not a little wonder to be told that the longest river is far The Country 17 north in Hokkaido. This river, Ishikari, is 412 miles long, and the next is the Shinano which empties into the Japan Sea at Niigata, after running 190 miles. Then comes the Kitakami River, remarkable not so much for its length of 175 miles as for its history. The long valley in northern Japan through which this river flows used to be a wide strait, and the land east was an island of about the same shape as Formosa, and perhaps two-thirds as large. As the land became elevated, the strait contracted into a river, which left from time to time broad and high terraces all along the valley. Some books on Japan do not even mention these two great rivers, Ishikari, and Kitakami, but give as the longest the Tone, and Shinano, which indeed lie in the most thickly populated part of Japan, and are far better known than the others. Even these largest rivers are navigable only by small Difficult to steamers, and then only for a short portion of their length. Broad-bottomed freight boats, however, do a prosperous business on all the rivers, small or large. Where the currents are too strong for sailing, the boatmen draw their vessels up stream with ropes or pole them up the rapids. It costs large amounts of money to keep these rivers where they belong, and to make them useful to the nation. The total sum ex- Navigate . 18 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom pended in a year goes as high as 15,000,000 Costly V en (about $7,500,000) and the government is Overflows now contemplating the expenditure of 30,000,- 000 yen (about $15,000,000) on the five largest rivers of central Japan. So there was some reason for one of Japan's ancient rulers saying that the two things impossible to govern are the priests, and the rivers. It is so difficult to maintain bridges over these ungovernable riv- ers that the crossings are often by ferries or pontoons, and, of course, every flood tempo- rarily stops all travel. These waterways en- tail not only large expenditures but are also the occasion of great anxiety to the people who live along their banks. All the rivers are dangerous in times of prolonged rain, and oc- casionally they break their banks to the utter ruin of the farms within their sweep. Some- times villages are inundated and even swept away with their people, just as a tidal wave brings destruction along the coast. One very curious thing about the shorter rivers that come tearing down the mountain- sides near the sea is that they bring down so Embankment mucn sand that their beds are gradually raised. Problem To prevent damaging overflows, the people gradually build up the river-banks, so that now some of the rivers are so much higher than the surrounding land that the railroad runs under them without changing level. In Summer The Country 19 There are two such crossings between Kobe and Osaka. The climate is very much like the little girl Weather " When she was good, she was very, very good, And when she was bad, she was horrid." There are cloudless spring days, when the whole land blossoms out in beautiful colours, and harvest days when glorious autumn tints cover the hills, but there are also periods of cloudy and rainy weather continuing for weeks, and even months. In the summer, the prevailing winds are from the south and are warm and debilitating. The heat in central and southern Japan, all over the lowlands, is intense, and foreigners especially have to be careful not to expose themselves to the sun. The nights are so op- pressive that it is difficult to sleep, and in the day-time, when the sun does not shine, the air is so moist that the least exertion throws one into profuse perspiration. Added to this, the rainy season is spread over the warmest months, and once in a while, as in northern Japan in 1902, there is hardly a pleasant day all sum- mer. Because there is so much damp weather in summer, everything that is capable of mould- ing suffers — books, walls, clothing, bedding, and stuffed furniture are all subject to the malign influence of this musty disease. 20 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom But as soon as one gets away from the cities In Mountains of the plains into the mountains, above 2,000 feet, the air becomes deliciously cool and in- vigorating. Mid-days will still be hot, and climbing the mountains will induce speedy perspiration ; but the cool nights bring re- freshing sleep. Among the well-known sum- mer resorts are Nikko, Karuizawa, Hakone, Arima, and Hieizan, at which places mission- aries especially gather for conferences, study, and needed rest. So famous have these places become that many missionaries in China who have need of temporary rest come to these health-giving resorts of Japan. In Winter The winter weather is largely controlled by the winds from the north, which also are laden with moisture and disagreeably cold. The frost is not keen nor enough to render skating possible, save in north Japan or in the moun- tains. The western side of the islands is much colder in winter than the side along the Pacific, which is tempered by the Black Stream very much as the Gulf Stream is said to modify the climate of the Atlantic States. Sometimes the snows completely bury whole villages, so that the people actually burrow under the snow. So there is every variety of climate in this land which reaches as far north as Nova Scotia, and whose south is as near the equator as The Country 21 Cuba, and whose mountain ranges have tops from which snow never disappears. The number of pleasant days is nearly double that of rainy days, so that, in spite of objectionable features, Japan is a delightful country to live in. The population in 1S72 was 33,110,825. Its Density and rapid increase is seen from the latest census Increase of r Population which gives 46,000,000. The average annual increase is over half a million, which shows that the people are a vigorous and healthy race. They are packed very thickly in these islands. Just imagine 46,000,000 people in California, where there are now only 1,485,053 ! Or, if the Atlantic States were as densely populated as Japan they would contain 129,- 000,000 instead of 31,000,000. There are about 288 people to the square mile, and this proportion is not very different from that of Great Britain. This rapid increase necessi- tates places for the overflow population and the nearest places of colonization are within the Empire itself, being Hokkaido, and For- mosa. Hokkaido is about one-fifth as large as the P | oneer whole of Japan, yet it has a ver}' sparse popu- Settlers in lation, consisting of only 1,000,000 people. Hokkaido Some 50,000 people annually go north to settle in this newly-opened island, which is capable of supporting a population of 5,000,000. 22 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Americans have had a large share in opening up this land and in revealing its mineral and agricultural resources. It is that section of Japan most like the United States, in its prai- ries and elms, its methods of farming, and its style of building houses with chimneys. On the map, Hokkaido looks as if it had a great dragon head with wide-opened jaws coming clown to swallow the island below it. And in that mouth lies a beautiful and capacious har- bour with Hakodate on its shore. People in Formosa is only half as large as Hokkaido, Formosa y et ^ k as near iy three times as many people, the large majority being Chinese. But when the mountainous parts also are opened and rendered safe from the savage " head-hunters," there will be room for several millions more ; for Kyushu, which is about the same size as Formosa, has a population of 6,500,000. Emigration But many thousands of Japanese go outside to other f their islands in search of work and educa- tion. Sixty thousand — more than half the population — are in Hawaii and 40,000 are in the United States. The alert Japanese are quietly overflowing into Korea, China, and Siberia, but they are not a colonizing people, and the entire number of them in foreign lands is only about 125,000. It must not be forgotten that the foreigners residing in Japan have been a mighty in flu- Lands The Country 23 ence, mainly for good, in the regeneration of the nation. By foreigners, we do not mean Chinese, or Koreans, but Westerners. It is Westerners astonishing to learn that they are so few in in Japan number, only 5,383, including women and children. One can easily infer which nations have had the most influence here, from the fact that about two-thirds of these foreigners are Anglo-Saxons. One can also readily esti- mate the amount of direct Christian influence, since, of these few thousands, 772 are Protestant missionaries, 109 are Catholic, and four are Kussian. Japan is probably the best manned of all the great mission fields, averaging one missionary to 60,172 people. There is no more wonderful political trans- Rapid formation in the history of the whole world Transforms* than the rapid and successful passage of Japan from a country wholly closed against foreign- ers to one open to free international inter- course, and from absolute monarchy to a con- stitutional government. It is only a little over fifty years (July 7th, 1853) since Commodore Perry's fleet entered Yokohama Bay and startled Japan out of her two hundred and fifty years of sleep. " It took only those few black ships to scare us almost to death," said a prominent Japanese afterward. At any rate, Japan awoke, hating for a time, those who had thus rudely aroused her, but 24 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom fully determined to learn all that her supposed M ti t enemies could teach her. " You are stronger Motive for __ .,- . ,, Progress than we are now. We will learn all you can teach, and then— we will fight you," was the frank statement of many Japanese in the early Meiji Era. Later on, one of these Samurai, when asked what he had regarded as the greatest change that had taken place in Japan, replied: "I'm ashamed to tell you. We hated and despised you foreigners, but now we regard you as our teachers in every- thing." Even before a temporary treaty could Effect of Provide two or three open ports for corn- Foreign munication with the outer world, eager young Travel men longed to get out of the country and see the world with their own eyes, and to use their new knowledge for Japan. " The frog in the well knows not the great ocean," is one of the many suggestive national proverbs. The first to leave Japan was Keesima Jo, and he took this brave step when the penalty for leaving the country was death. Other young men followed, and then embassies of dis- tinguished Japanese were sent abroad. Their eyes were opened to the power and value of the civilization of the West, so that when they returned, they, with kindred spirits, under- took the stupendous work of bringing Japan out of isolation, and feudalism, and caste, into The Country 25 international intercourse, constitutional gov- ernment, universal education, and equality be- fore the law. The policy of the reform party R e f orm created a profound commotion throughout Policy the land and a brief, but effective, war, be- tween the Shogun's forces and the Imperial troops speedily ended in favour of the young Emperor's army. The royal abode was changed from Kyoto to Tokyo, and the Meiji Era (Era of Enlightenment) was ushered in by an epoch-creating proclamation, in which it was declared that " State affairs shall be decided by a deliberative assembly," and "Knowledge shall be sought for throughout the whole world." The edict closed with the assurance " This is to be the greatest reforma- tion ever witnessed in this land." Under the young Emperor, Mutsuhito, was thus begun the task of reorganizing the ad- ministrative and judicial affairs of a great nation. The first step was the creation of a Cabinet, much like those of Western nations, cabinet which has nine Departments, presided over by Created the Prime Minister. The Departments are those of the Army, Navy, Finance, Foreign Affairs, Justice, Home Affairs, Education, Agriculture, and Commerce and Communica- tions. The Constitution was promulgated February 11, 1889. It provides for the es- tablishment of the Imperial Diet, which is 26 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Constitution composed of the House of Peers with about Adopted 320 members, and the House of Representa- tives with 376 members. The former is elected entirely by the people for a term of four years, while the latter contains members of the nobility together with forty-six com- moners who pay the largest taxes. Besides these, are a few, who, "for meritorious services rendered to the State, or for erudi- tion," are, from time to time, appointed as life members of the House of Peers by the Emperor — hence, the number of Peers is not fixed, as is the representation of the House of Representatives. But of far more interest to the average reader are two immense reforms, without which Japan would still be a semi-barbarous nation. The first was the abolition of torture. It Trial by seems strange that there could have been any Torture hesitation about abolishing the cruel and un- Abolished . . , , . , , , <=> TTTU just custom of trial by torture, when once the eager, open-minded leaders of Japan had seen the criminal courts of Western nations conducted without recourse to torture, it might have been thought that they would have hastened to adopt this reform. But it took a decade of bitter discussion between conservatives and progressives before the victory was won for open courts and trial by The Country 27 evidence. Indeed, we may say that it would have taken very many years longer, but for the intense desire of the Japanese to have the foreigners residing in Japan subject to the laws of Japan. And when at last the civil and criminal codes were completed, one great obstacle to making equal treaties with Japan was removed. Under the new laws it was now safe for Western powers to entrust their people residing in Japan to the jurisdic- tion of Japan, just as Japanese in the United States are subject to its laws. Thus Japan is the first of the great Eastern nations to be recognized as the political equal of "Western nations, and great was the joy of all the people at this consummation of their desires. The second of these great reforms was the Religious granting of religious liberty. Before the Liberty °j ... J? ., & , ,, „ J T Proclaimed Meiji Era, it was death for any Japanese to have anything to do with Christianity. What a change came when the Twenty-eighth Ar- ticle of the Constitution was adopted: " Japanese subjects shall, within limits not prejudicial to peace and order, and not antag- onistic to their duties as subjects, enjoy free- dom of religious belief." This is the article that has given Japan a unique place in the history of missions from the «lays of the apostles until now. For there never before was a non-Christian nation in 28 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Open which Christianity had the full protection of Christianity ^e government, with liberty to its professors to go anywhere and everywhere throughout the land. Just imagine what a difference it would make with Turkey, if the Sultan should issue such an edict, and mean it ! What hap- piness would be given multitudes in Kussia were the Czar to give his millions the same religious liberty that the Emperor of Japan has conferred on his subjects ! It is to the lasting honour of Japan that her minister in Washington, Mr. Takahira, could publish in the Independent, July 4th, 1901, this statement: "The profession and the propagation of Chris- tianity are as untrammelled in Japan as in any part of the world." We have now seen the greatest of the judi- Orowthof cial and administrative reforms. Among the material improvements, the railroads and tele- graph service are conspicuous. In 1874, two little railroads of twenty miles each were opened. Now a glance at the map shows that the whole Empire is connected with a main line to which many side lines are feeders. The total mileage, 4,000 to be sure, is very small compared with that of the United States, and is only about one-fifth that of Great Britain. Twenty years ago, it took seven days to go by jinrikisha from Tokyo to Kyoto, now it takes only fifteen hours by train. Railroads The Country 29 For twenty sen you can send a telegram Telegraphs anywhere, save to the very sparsely populated interior, and letters are delivered for three sen even in the hills. In cities and towns, mails are delivered and collected several times a day. The progress made in transportation by steamships steamers is remarkable. The first of the for- eign " inventions " that the Shogun and Daimyos eagerly desired to buy were steamers. Their junks looked insignificant by the side of these swift ocean vessels, which at once be- came a necessity to the progress and the safety of the Empire. Small coasting steamers be- gan to multiply and then there gradually de- veloped the commercial fleets that now invade the West in competition with mercantile marine of the whole world. One company, the Nippon Yu Sen Kwaisha, has seventy ships with an aggregate tonnage of 221,871 tons. Many of these ships were bought in Europe, but the new ones are now built at home. So long as Japan hated foreign intercourse there was no need of lighthouses along her Lighthouses dangerous coast. But as soon as she opened her harbours, there was pressing need of per- manent beacon lights for her own sake and for the sake of the shipping of other nations. The many lighthouses all along her coast now are a symbol of new Japan, no longer in isola- tion and twilight, but friendly to all nations. 30 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Not only for the sake of peaceful commerce were steamers a necessity, but to protect the Navy national commerce, and for self-defence, a navy was indispensable. It is difficult to imagine the discouragements the Japanese had to over- come in building up a modern navy manned and officered entirely by themselves. But it has been done in such an effectual manner that they gained a speedy victory over China in 1895, and rendered invaluable aid to the allied troops in the march to Peking in 1900. Of their recent achievements, there is no need to speak at length here. So rapidly has Japan developed into a front-rank military and naval power that Great Britain recently entered into an alliance with her for five years, while her recent exhibition of efficiency on land and sea has astounded the world. Growth of The whole wealth of Japan is roughly esti- (Ma^faSu^s mated at 15,000,000,000 yen, one yen being equal to fifty cents in United States coin. The total exports and imports for 1902 reached 520,381,773 yen, or six times as much as the total of ten years ago. Twenty years ago there was hardly a manufacturing chimney in Osaka, the wealthiest of all the cities of Japan, but now it is fairly girdled with a belt of fac- tories whose tall chimneys tower conspicuously above the low dwellings of the people. The Emperor Nintoku, 2,200 years ago, as he The Country 31 viewed the slender jets of smoke rising from the huts of his people in Osaka, rejoiced that the people had rice to cook. If he could now view the huge clouds of smoke that the chim- neys of thousands of factories send forth, he would rejoice that his people had at last dis- covered the resources necessary to high civi- lization. He would see 75,000,000 yen worth of silk going abroad to nations, the names of which he had never heard, and tea, cotton, lacquer ware, rice, and works of art, being ex- ported to the extent of 250,000,000 yen a year. Although not one of the wealthiest nations of the earth, Japan is steadily growing in re- sources, and is changing from a purely agri- cultural to more of a manufacturing nation, whose very life now depends upon friendly in- tercourse with the other nations of the world. How to Use the Questions at the End of Each Chapter Do not fail to read these instructions through carefully lief ore taking up the questions for study. It is not supposed that the average member or the average class will attempt to answer all these questions. The leader should select the quantify and quality that he judges to be sail, d to il<> ability of the class and assign them for 32 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom study at least a week in advance of the recita- tion. In selecting questions, an attempt should be made to preserve some sort of connection between them. These questions are nearly all thought ques- tions, — that is, they demand some thinking on the part of the student. Complete answers will be found in the book for very few of them. They make more or less use of the material found in the book, but require some thought in addition. This sort of question is much better than those which call for nothing more than a repetition of the words of the book. The text-book is not so much a collec- tion of gold bricks to be packed away in your mind, as a gymnasium, by exercise in which you are to develop the power to think clearly about missions in Japan. There may be, however, some members who have no other idea of study and reciting than that of hunting out answers that are furnished fully by the text, and repeating these answers when the appropriate question is asked in the class. To such only a few of the simpler ques- tions of those given below should be assigned, and the remainder of the recitation may be made up of questions such as those to which they are accustomed. These latter the aver- age leader will have no difficulty in construct- ing for himself. The Country 33 In using the list printed in the book, the student should make it his aim not to dispose of a question as rapidly as possible, but to dwell upon it until the issues involved in it become perfectly dear. Many of the ques- tions are not such as can be answered at once by the average student. They have been chosen purposely not only so as to leave some- thing to be cleared up by discussion in the session, but many of them with the idea that they may lead to a difference of opinion and hence promote a more spirited discussion. In taking up each one, let your first move be to ascertain all that the text-book has to say on the subject. This, in some cases may be more or less scattered through the chapter. Many questions that seem difficult at first sight will be found, when all the facts have been gathered, to involve only a very simple com- bination and inference. Your ability to an- swer other of the questions will depend upon your general knowledge, and the leader is at fault if he assigns you something that is en- tirely beyond you. If you are unable to an- swer any question that has been assigned, however, do not become discouraged, but mark it and bring it up in the class. If it cannot be answered satisfactorily even there, note it and think about it. Light may dawn upon you later. Try to come to the recitation with your 34 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom mind made up as far as possible on the points assigned, that you may be able to enter freely into the debate and yet try to come with an open mind ready to receive from others. Above all things, avoid mere guessing at an- swers. It is neither a disgrace nor a misfor- tune to be unable to answer some of these questions even after careful thought ; it is both, to jump at conclusions and to hold them without sufficient reasons. Even when your reasons seem to you adequate, hold them sub- ject to further correction. You will get more good from discussing questions intelligently without answering them, than from answering them without discussing them intelligently. Leaders of classes should not fail to apply to their denominational secretaries for pamphlet helps containing not only suggestions for the conduct of each session, but general hints on the organization of classes and on teaching methods. Questions for Study Aim. — To get the necessary geographical background for an intelligent study of Japan, and to estimate the probable future of the Empire. Map Study i. Use maps of Asia and of the United States and compare the latitudes of the entire Empire and The Country 35 also those of the four principal islands with those of the United States. 2. If Tokyo be placed a little north of Cape Hatteras, about where will Hakodate lie ? 3. Let some one be appointed to calculate in United States distances how far Tokyo is from Kyoto, and also from Nagasaki. 4. What States are about equal in size to each of the five islands ? 5. Study the map so as to be able to draw from mem- ory a very rough outline, inserting Hakodate, Tokyo, Yokohama, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, and Nagasaki. Physical Features 6. What variety of climate should you expect to find in Japan in view of its latitude ? 7. What effect has the fact that Japan is a partly sub- merged mountain chain upon the scenery ? 8. What, upon the ease of internal communications? 9. What, upon rivers? 10. What, upon a supply of harbours ? IX. What belt of climate contains all the great world powers at the present day ? 12. What sort of future is indicated for Japan by her position and physical features ? Progress 13. Name the causes that induced Japan to accept Western civilization in what seems to you the order of their relative importance. Give your reasons for naming them in this order. 14. What was there in the ideals of Old Japan that aroused in her more than in China an admiration for the foreigners ? 36 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom 15. Which one step in Japan's recent progress do you consider most important of all? Bring out as strikingly as you can what there was in this step that could be called wonderful. 16. Name other steps in the order of their importance and give your reasons for so ranking them. 1 7. What is the other most striking instance in history that you can recall of a nation breaking with its past ? Compare this instance as closely as you can with that of Japan. 18. How does the attitude of Japan towards progress compare with that of Russia ? 19. If you had been a ruler of Japan in the old days and could have selected for your country only one of the inventions of Western civilization, which one would you have chosen, and why ? 20. Which would have been your next choice, and why ? 21. What other inventions are of great importance for Japan ? 22. How has the possession of these inventions affected the position of Japan among Oriental nations ? 23. What advantages has she over other nations in in- fluencing eastern Asia ? 24. What is apt to be her future influence upon China? 25. What is the bearing of all this upon the importance of her evangelization ? Make your answer as impressive as possible. References : Cary : Japan and its Regeneration, chs. I, VI-VIII. Clement: Handbook of Modern Japan, chs. I— II I, VIII, IX, XI, XX, XXI. Peery : Gist of Japan, chs. I, II, V. Griffis : The Mikado's Empire, bk. I, chs. I, XXVIII ; bk. II, ch. XVIII, and supplementary chs. The Country 37 Japan in History, Folk-lore, and Art, chs. I, XXIV- XXVI. Newton : Japan : Country, Court and People, pts, I and IV. Murray: Japan (Story of the Nations Series), chs. I, XIII-XV. Chamberlain : Things Japanese, articles ; Climate, Europeanization, History, Population, Railways, Shipping, Trade, etc. Rein : Japan. The Industries of Japan. Gordon : An American Missionary in Japan, ch. XIX. Gulick : Evolution of the Japanese, ch. II. Consult also Encyclopaedia articles, such books as Mill's International Geography, etc. Subjects for Papers or Talks : 1. What place in the commercial world does Japan seem likely to occupy in view of her position, products and manufactures? Clement : chs. I-III, XI. Peery : ch. I. Rein's books (for those who have plenty of time). Chamberlain: "Shipping," "Trade," etc. Newton : pt. I, chs. I, VI ; pt. IV, ch. V. 2. Causes leading up to the Revolution of 1868. Cary : chs. VI, VII. Clement: chs. VII, VIII. Gulick : ch. II. Griffis : Mikado's Empire, ch. XXVIII. Japan, chs. XXIV, XXV. Newton : pt. Ill, ch. I. Murray : chs. XIII, XIV. Chamberlain : " History," " Europeanization." 38 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom 3. The Transformation of Japan. Cary: ch. VIII. Clement : chs. VIII, IX, XI, XX, XXI. Peery : ch. V. Griffis : Mikado's Empire, bk. II, ch. XVIII, and supplementary chs. Japan, ch. XXVI. Murray : ch. XV. Gordon : ch. XIX. Newton : pt. Ill, ch. II, V. II THE PEOPLE Nobody seems to know from whence the Traditional Japanese originally came. Until recently they 0ri s in themselves firmly believed that they were de- scendants of " the gods," and even to-day, in spite of all the new knowledge that mankind is of one blood, the six millions of children in the primary schools are taught in their readers thus : " The God Amaterasu is the ancestor of His Majesty the Emperor and is indeed a n jble God. From Amaterasu to the present Emperor the imperial line has never been broken." Progressive Japanese have accepted modern Historical thought to such an extent that there are very Uncertaint y few educated persons who believe the old mythology. They omit all the stories of the gods, and begin their country's history with the first Emperor, Jimmu, who is said to have ascended the throne 660 b. c, though his throne must have been a crude affair and his people but a few thousands of barbarians. As to their origin, the Japanese frankly say : " We don't know exactly where we came 39 4-0 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom from, but undoubtedly some of our ancestors came from Northern Asia, others from Korea, and others from Malayan regions." They are, at any rate, a mixed race, as any one can Some Facial see from their different facial types. Some Types are g at f ace( j anc | heavily bearded ; others are oval faced, with high brows, more prominent noses, and with scanty beards. A few are so like the people of the West that, when they are travelling abroad, they are never taken for Asiatics. "Nobody suspected that I was a Japanese," said one of these educated men on his return to Japan. Some have faces exactly like those of the American Indians and all the people have dark hair and eyes. When foreigners first began to come, the Japanese were amazed at the red hair and blue eyes of some of their visitors and at the tow-headed babies. Average Though descended from Asian races, the He ' Weight Japanese are shorter than Chinese and Koreans. When Japanese sit on chairs by the side of foreigners, there is no marked difference in their height, which shows that their bodies are of normal length. But as soon as they stand, their low stature becomes conspicuous, showing that their shortness is in their legs. This defect may have arisen from sitting on the mats in kneel- ing fashion, and also from being carried The People 41 through childhood on the backs of their mothers and nurses. Their average height is about that of European women and their weight is much below that of European men. " In Europe the average weight of young men of twenty is 144 pounds, while that of the Tokyo conscripts for the army was only 111 pounds." They are a hardy race and can endure vitality conditions that would rapidly exterminate Americans. In cold, windy weather, farmers will work bare-legged all day, men and women too, in the deep mud of the rice fields. Young men may be seen running bare-footed over snow, or wading rivers in winter for the sake of a half pound of fish. In order to understand this great nation, little heed should be paid to their curious and even ridiculous customs, and attention should be given to the way in which society is organized, and family life carried on. He who knows these two things does not consider the Japanese an "awfully funny people," but knows the inner forces that have made Japan what it is. The four classes of society were, until old and recently, the Samurai, farmers, artisans, and JJ^jJ 8388 merchants. Outside of these were the de- spised Eta, who, being social outcasts, had none but degrading occupations. Besides 42 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom these there are the hairy, drunken, filthy, ignorant, but amiable Ainu, who live in Hokkaido. But as soon as Japan began to catch the spirit of Western civilization, these class distinctions were abolished, and three grades were established — the nobility, the gentry, and the common people. The effects of this wide-sweeping change Modern are very apparent. The real democratic spirit Democratic j s seen j n ^ ne complete removal of all barriers spirit . i . . in the system of education, in the organization of the army and navy, and in local and national elections. More than half of the 2,300 students in the Imperial University are from the common people, and the children of all classes, except the nobles, attend the same public schools. In the recent Diet there were 224 commoners, that is, three times as many as were elected from among the gentry. It would, however, be a great mistake to influence of conclude that the influence of the Samurai Samurai (g en t rv ) has departed. They played too im- portant a part in the building up of Old Japan to be dismissed by a mere edict. They constituted about five per cent, of the popula- tion, and were the military retainers of the Daimyos, wearing their swords in the belief tbat the sword is the soul of the Samurai. They embodied the principle of loyalty, and made it one of the corner stones on which - JAPANESE CHRISTIAN FAMILY (Pastor Miyaki) The People 43 New Japan so firmly stands. Their lives were not their own, but their lords' ; and Dr. Neesinia used to say: "When Japanese be- come loyal to Christ, they will both live for Him and also gladly die for Him." Not only did the Samurai code demand self- old Samurai sacrifice for superiors, but it required sim- spirit plicity of life, disdain of mone}' - , and love of righteousness, though this righteousness was not like that of the Bible. Out of this rela- tion of the lord and his retainers came some of the noblest stories of Old Japan, and that same spirit lives in the intense patriotism which permeates the nation. It should be remembered that the great Christian leaders have come from the Samurai, though others are coming forward from other classes with promise of great spiritual power. Family life and customs in Japan are very Family Life different from those which prevail in America and Europe and in nothing is the difference more marked than in the marriage customs. The young man does not select his own wife, but some relative or friend of the family dis- covers a suitable girl, and after the formal negotiations between the parents, the young people are introduced. If they are satisfied with each other's record and looks, their parents make the engagement. The prospec- tive bridegroom does no courting after the 44 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom No Courtship Western style. In due time, the would-be bride is taken to the house of her future hus- band's father — it would never do for the young man to go and bring his bride — where the formal marriage ceremony is performed with a great feast, in which the new couple pledge each other in nine tiny cups of sake. They are now husband and wife so far as custom goes, but the marriage is not legalized until the bride's name has been transferred in the public registrar's office from her family to that of her husband. Since the young couples have to live with No New Home the parents instead of beginning a home Founded for themselves, the bride has to become a servant to her mother-in-law, look out faith- fully for the comfort of her father-in-law, and please her husband too. I know sons who have been forced to divorce wives because they did not suit the young men's parents. Sometimes it works the other way, and when a son wishes to get rid of his wife, the parents refuse to permit the change. Perpetuation In the case of an onl y daughter, a go- of Bride's between searches out one who will make a fitting husband; and when the match is ar- ranged between the two families, the bride does not go to her husband's home and take his name, but he goes to her home and takes her name. For neither Japanese custom nor Family The People 45 the new laws permit an only daughter to leave her home and abandon her family name. She must remain at home in order that her future children may keep up that family line. The legal marriage is consummated when the young man's name is formally changed at the regis- trar's office. In this case it is the bridegroom who becomes a kind of servant to his new par- ents. Here too there is ample room for a family quarrel, which in far too many cases results in divorce. Enough has been said to show that the Family Line Japanese family begins in a different manner All-important from ours, and the cause of this lies in what is called the Family Line. Every Japanese de- sires to maintain his family line, and regards failure to do so a great misfortune and even disgrace. This is why parents who have only one child, cannot give it to another house, but must adopt a son or a daughter, and thus con- tinue their line and name. When there are no children, the childless parents may adopt a boy and a girl and thus establish the family line anew. Japanese are surprised when they first learn that Westerners do not think much of a family line maintained by adoption. I have been asked in wonder : " Why did not your great and noble Washington adopt some young man of good family and so maintain his family line?" My questioner felt that 46 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom our first President had failed in his moral obligations by neglecting this seemingly im- portant step. Every foreigner who goes to Japan is im- Happy yet pressed with the immense number of happy ^Babies babies strapped on the backs of children only a little bigger than themselves, all playing in the streets, utterly regardless of the jinrikishas, bicycles, carts, and horses. Japan has been called "The Paradise of babies." They are petted and dressed and loved, and have as good a time as any children perhaps in any land, though what they have to endure would often prove fatal to foreign babies. Their food lacks in nourishment, their parents are igno- rant of hygiene, and, when driven by poverty, are cruel. Even in their sports the children's heads often are so exposed that it would seem that their brains would be baked by the fierce rays of the sun. In training children, the great aim is to Significance teach obedience. This is the second essential of Obedience v j r tue in the making of the Japanese people, the first one, as already stated, being loyalty. But Japanese obedience differs considerably from that called for in a Western home. You can see at once that it is something peculiar, because it is called " filial piety." That is, it has a religious element in it, and involves much more than Americans mean by obedi- The People 47 ence. It includes not only reverent obedience in early years, but obedience for life, pro- viding for parents in old age, and worship- ping them when they have passed into the spirit land. This far-reaching obedience has played a wonderful part in building up this powerful nation. Out of this, too, come some of the noblest stories that have developed the moral power of the nation. But out of this have also come grave evils, for parents have too much authority. As we have seen, young people do not become independent on getting Increased, married, but are still under obedience to the Young People old folks as long as they live. Until recently parents in poverty could kill their new-born babe, or sell a grown-up daughter into a life of shame. The new laws, however, have modified the authority of parents, so that a young man of thirty, or a girl of twenty-five, is at liberty to marry even against the will of parents. It is a significant break in the old family life that children are now recognized as having rights as well as duties. As for woman, everybody knows that position of women are never regarded with honour in Woman non-Christian lands. A few may compel re- Bpect by their exceptional ability, others may be petted for their beauty and amiability, but, as a class, they are looked upon as inferior to man. 2s T o woman, in the olden times, was al- 48 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom lowed to ascend such sacred mountains as Fuji and Aso. When Commodore Perry was ne- gotiating the first treaty, he was told that no foreign woman should ever step on the sacred soil of Japan. And Buddhism declared that no woman could ever gain paradise unless she were good enough to be reborn as a man. In spite of all this the women of Japan are much better off than those of any other Eastern na- Promise of tion, and their position has been greatly im- Better Things p roYe a s i nce the beginning of intercourse with the West. That woman as well as man has rights and is worthy of respect, are doctrines that are being gladly welcomed and put into practice. The great educator, Fukuzawa, whose writings have done more for woman than those of any Japanese, performed a splendid work by his earnest advocacy of a pure home, and by his denunciations of the wrong and cruel treatment of women. Wom- en's clubs, whose aim is to promote culture, to reform family life, and to encourage philan- thropic works, have sprung up all over the land. Japan is exceedingly fortunate at this time in having so noble a woman as the pres- ent Empress, whose life is full of sympathy with every form of woman's progress, and whose heart is warm toward every benevolent work. A glance at the last "Annual Keport of The People 49 Education " shows that woman has already won a high place, since out of 92,000 teachers in elementary schools over 12,000 are women, while in the fifty-two higher schools for females out of 658 teachers about two-thirds are women. In considering the social conditions and the Two great family life, we have seen that the two ruling Virtues virtues are loyalty and filial piety. We must never lose sight of these if we would really get into the hearts and homes of the people. The homes of the people are as different simple Homes from English and American homes as are their customs and conditions of life. The houses are small cheap stuctures, usually one-storied, with heavy thatched roofs in the country and tiled roofs in the cities. Probably half of the houses in Japan did not cost, on the average, over $150, though there are, of course, some splendid dwellings, and some fireproof go- downs. It is curious to see carpenters build a house. How they are The first thing they make is the roof, which Bullt is set up on the ground. Posts are erected on stones that have been pounded into the earth, and the roof is then put up, piece by piece, on the posts. The strongest part of the house is the roof. One or two sides of the building are made of plaster over a bamboo lath work, the other sides being used for sliding paper 50 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom doors, outside of which are sliding rain-doors. Such houses are not well braced, and hence are easily thrown down by heavy earthquakes, or blown down by typhoons. These shells of houses, with their inch-thick How they are mats and their few rooms, capable of being Furnished thrown open into one large room, are very nice in warm weather, but since there are neither chimneys nor stoves they are very cold in winter. Charcoal fires in braziers help to make the rooms cheerful, and sitting on one's knees helps to keep one warm. The mats are the main furniture, for you sit, eat, work, and sleep on them. It is important to notice that every purely Japanese house has its god-shelf, where ancestral tablets are kept, and where various gods and charms are placed for wor- ship, or for good luck. Eice and fish are the two staffs of life, and a Japanese boy can make way with these ar- ticles of food with chopsticks, faster than two "Western boys could do it with knives and Rise in Cost forks. It is astonishing how little it costs to of Living SU pp 0r t a family. A household, among the lower classes, consisting of five persons, can live on five dollars a month, and a student away from home can get along with from three to five dollars a month. But the stand- ard of living is rising. American wheat flour is being imported by shiploads. Beef, pota- The People 51 toes, cabbages, turnips are being added to the diet, and strawberries and ice cream are fa- vourites with those who can afford them. Even cheese, which the Japanese as a race dis- like, has a few patrons. Oranges and persim- mons are excellent, and the miserable apples, pears, peaches, and figs of the land have been made over by modern methods into very nice fruits. The graceful and expensive Japanese cloth- Dress ing has been wholly given up as a public dress by multitudes of officials, teachers, sol- diers, and business men, who now appear in European clothes. The middle and lower classes, men and women alike, mainly cling to the inexpensive kimono. The upper class women do not take to Western styles of dress, but continue to wear the broad and expensive sash with gowns that do not show the form of the body. And although they do not wear hats and bonnets, their hair ornaments are rich and costly. Mr. Fukuzawa used to say that the three strangest sights on earth are the wasp- waists of Western women, the de- formed feet of Chinese women, and the black teeth of Japanese women. The custom of blackening teeth is rapidly going out of fashion. The people are exceedingly fond of amuse- ments. They have no rivals in Hying tailless 52 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Amusements kites. Young men love fencing and wrest- ling, and students especially take to baseball, tennis, boat races, and bicycles. Their social amusements are inferior to those of Euro- peans, since their music is inferior, and men and women do not mingle as in the West. Theatres abound where families go, carrying their lunches and staying all day, listening to some stirring historical play, and between scenes visiting friends in neighbouring boxes. Men play chess a great deal, and vie with one another in writing verses or dashing off ink pictures. Card playing has come to stay, although gambling is strictly prohibited. When the flower season opens, all the people, old and young, throng in gay dresses to the parks and groves, and drink in the beauty of the delicate blossoms that adorn the branches and that, falling, cover the ground. Difficulties la Japanese is probably the most difficult to Japanese master °f a ^ the languages of earth. It is the despair of foreigners, for it is virtually two languages combined — Chinese and Japa- nese. Moreover the spoken language is mark- edly different from the written. So far as the " characters " go, there are only forty- eight syllables, but when besides these one must learn two or three thousand Chinese ideo- graphs in order to read Japanese literature, the task is greatly increased ; and, as these The People 53 ideographs are marvellously abbreviated in letter-writing, it is impossible to recognize them without learning them anew. Thus there are three distinct departments of the language — the spoken, the book, and the let- ter language. Besides all this, the spoken language is of two kinds, in one of which i*""® ,,. ° 7 Peculiar Char- Japanese words predominate, while in the acteristics other Chinese words are more numerous. As though that were not bad enough, the order of words is almost the reverse of the English order. We think our personal pronouns a very essential part of our language, but the Japa- nese care so little for them that they have al- most none. We have prepositions, they have only post-positions. We rejoice in our little articles, a, an, and the, they have none. We are very careful of our singular and plural numbers, they care so little for them that un- less there is some special reason for specifying, they are left indefinite. It is sometimes said that everything in Japan is just the opposite of what it is in the West, and the language is a good illustration of this. Our books begin from the left, theirs from the right. We read across the page, they read from top to bottom. The order of the first sentence in the Lord's prayer is: "Our Father who art in heaven," their order is: "Heaven in art of us Father/' These 54 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom facts will serve to show how impossible it is for a foreigner to fully master this language. Among missionaries, those who devote Few themselves exclusively to English teaching F ^ e '? ner j! usually do not learn the language, except enough to get along with the people they em- ploy. Others make it their aim to master the spoken language only, and of these many ac- quire it so well that they take their place with educated Japanese in public addresses. But few indeed are they who can read as easily as a native, and perhaps there is not one who can excell in the three departments, namely, speak, read and write, as an educated Japanese does. Old Japanese Every nation has its literature, in which are Literature embodied its history, laws, religion, poetry, and lives of heroes. But the Japanese did not know letters until intercourse with China through Korea brought the new knowledge, and their first book was not written until about TOO a. d. Then Buddhism became popu- lar, and among the blessings it brought was a love for literature. Books began to multiply and were printed from wooden blocks. So when Japan came in touch with Europe 300 years ago, "Western learning was welcomed, especially works on medicine and war. And when, in these latter days, Japan opened her doors freely to foreign intercourse, the litera- ture of the West at once began to have a pro- The People 55 found influence on the nation. So wide-sweep- ing is this influence in every department of literature, that Prof. B. H. Chamberlain says : " The recent opening of the country was the death-blow to Japanese literature proper." In other words, recent literature is influence of dominated by Western thought. Such books ^ este !J as Smiles' " Self-Help " and Mill's " Liberty " were translated and had an immense circula- tion. Young men who went abroad and saw "Western nations, threw their whole souls into writing up the governments, laws, religion, education, customs, defects, family life, posi- tion of woman, commerce, manufactures, banking, and all the resources of foreign lands. So that the literature of the Meiji Era is so wholly different from all that preceded it, both in form and thought, that if men of a hundred years ago were to come back to life, they would be wholly at a loss to understand either the books of to-day or the language of new Japanese orators. This cordial welcome of Western thought means a like welcome to Western education. Western Before the opening of the country, learning E*£?catlon was confined mainly to the Samurai, and the schools were in the temples and houses of teachers of Chinese. Education was for the few, and the masses, especially the women, were ignorant. But a gifted and open-minded 56 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Japanese, A. Mori, was Minister in Charge at Washington in the " seventies " and he was so deeply impressed with our public and private schools, that on his return to Japan, he gave his very life to the establishment of a system of national education. He accomplished his great work, but he fell by the hand of a misguided assassin on the day the Constitution for which he had struggled was promulgated. Growth of This compulsory educational system has its ° Ve schools faults? hut it remains one of the most con- spicuous signs of the rapid progress Japan has made. A brief table will best show what is going on : 2 Universities 3,229 pupils 7 Colleges 5,680 5 Medical Colleges 300 Technical Schools 27,449 " 52 Normal Schools 15,639 " 299 Middle Schools 78,314 " 11 Schools for Blind and Dumb ... 620 " 48 Special Schools 13,400 " 26,857 Elementary Schools 5,321,726 " 240 Kindergartens 23,073 " Of the 5,321,726 pupils in the elementary schools, 3,090,563 are boys, and 2,231,163 are girls. Western languages have a high place in middle, higher, and university institutions. Sixty-four foreign instructors are employed, The People 57 of whom twenty-three are English and American, and nineteen are German. The Some Subjects English language is by far the most popular of foreign tongues. Chinese, which used to be the key to all education, is more and more cut down in the elementary schools, only 1,200 ideographs being in that course. Ethics are, of course, taught, but it is the policy of the Government, at the present time, to exclude all religious instruc- tion from the public schools. What is said above refers wholly to Govern- ment schools. Private schools have no such Private standing in Japan as in the United States, yet Schoo,s they are gaining more and more recognition, there being 1,315 schools with 85,000 pupils. Among these are the two universities in Tokyo, founded by Mr. Fukuzawa and Count Okuma, which are doing excellent work. Religious instruction is not forbidden in the private schools. There is, perhaps, nothing more difficult than accurately to state in a few words the leading traits of any great nation. Yet, after nearly thirty years' residence in Japan, I do not hesitate to place first and foremost, open- Japanese mindedness as the main characteristic of the O pen " Minded= people. But for this, New Japan would have been an impossibility. But for this, there would have been constant misunderstandings, ness 58 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom resulting in hatred of the "West and conse- quent wars, just as there were in China. But Japan saw at once the military and naval superiority of the West, and though the Samurai loved their swords and called the use of guns cowardly, they unhesitatingly re- modelled their military establishments after those of the West. They perceived the superi- ority of constitutional government over an ab- solute monarchy, and so changed from the lower to the higher and better form. They recognized the evils of the old classes of society, and abolished them all, admit- ting even the outcast Eta and Ainu to the rights and privileges of the new order. Education they made universal. Their love of knowledge and readiness to sacrifice every- thing for it, show a people with minds open to truth in a rare degree. The Japanese are doing just what the young Emperor authorized in his celebrated edict — " seeking for truth in all the world." " Yes, but they are nothing but apes after Imitative yet all. They know only how to imitate," some Original cr ftics have said. True, they fortunately have the imitative faculty in a high degree, but they are by no means mere imitators. They adapt whatever they adopt, so that it becomes pecul- iarly Japanese. To be sure, they sometimes make ludicrous mistakes, especially in minor The People 59 things, as when a band of musicians strikes up " Marching through Georgia " at a Buddhist funeral, or a guest at a foreign table swallows his ball of butter at one gulp, or drinks the whole bowl of gravy thinking it is soup. Another prominent characteristic is their love of morality. It is often said that the Japanese are liars. True, when they first Commercial came in contact with Western peoples whom Dlshonest y they hated and feared, they did lie. Our first consul, Townsend Harris, wrote, " The Japa- nese are the greatest liars on the earth." But what consul or foreign minister would think of speaking such words now ? All the diplo- matic relations with Japan are as reliable as are those between Western nations. Yet in commercial matters it is well known that they often break their contracts, and among mer- chants there are many who bring reproach on the whole nation by their false dealings. Now nobody knows this defect better than the Japanese themselves. And nobody de- plores it so much as the moral leaders of New Japan. Again and again have I read in the native papers most earnest appeals to the mer- Ideals of chant class to cease every form of dishonesty Better Class and to be thoroughly honourable in all their dealings. And in spite of the trickery and occasional deception of a whole community, and in spite of the suspicion that society is in- 6o Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom fected with bribery, the moral nature of the better part of the people, together with the new moral standards from abroad, before long, we may reasonably hope, will make the com- mercial reputation as good as that which the country enjoys in the realm of diplomacy. A Noble Other bad things are said against the Japa- Martyr nesG) w ith more or less truth. But yet, a nation whose history has so many moral he- roes, cannot be bad at heart. Japan has pro- duced one man who gave his life to save the people of his province from oppression and ruin. He was cruelly crucified, his innocent wife with him, and their children were barbar- ously executed before the parents' eyes. Yet this man's dying words on the cross were : " Had I five hundred lives, I'd gladly give them all for you, my people." So far as I know, there is no other story in all history so closely resembling that of the crucifixion of Christ as this. The nation that can produce one such hero has the potency and promise of noble morality. This fearlessness of death in influence of the face of duty runs all through the history Old standards f fa e people, which tells of wives who will- ingly died for their husbands, of children for their parents, of parents for their children, and of subjects for their lords. Where this spirit of sacrifice for others rules, there is a high grade of morality, even though it fails to The People 61 make prominent the distinctively Christian virtues of chastity, benevolence, and truthful- ness. If the young people who read this chapter sympathetic finish it with the thought, that, although the J ttl f ud b e 1 Japanese have different customs and different standards of morals from ours, yet they cer- tainly should not be called " heathen," nor re- garded as unworthy of respect, then a good starting point will have been made for a sym- pathetic understanding of the Japanese people. We will make a mistake if we begin this study by thinking that, as they are not Christian, they must be wholly wrong in all their moral and religious life. We should be, at least, as open-minded as they are and we should study them from the standpoint of their best traits, not from that of their worst. Questions fok Study Aim.— To determine what Christianity will do for Japanese society. Japanese Society as It Was 1. How did the society of Old Japan resemble that of Europe during the middle ages? 2. What effect would it have upon the ideals of the nation that the ruling class was military in char- acter? 3. What was the chief virtue of Old Japan ? 4. What other virtues were due to the social system? 62 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom 5. What are apt to be the moral defects of such a system ? 6. Let somebody previously appointed contrast the classes, and especially the ruling classes, of Japan with those of China and India and show the results in each case. 7. What would be the effect upon commercial morality of the fact that the merchants were lowest among the classes ? 8. What prevented a young man of Old Japan from having a separate home of his own when he married ? 9. When did he become his own ruler ? 10. What was his position meanwhile ? 11. What sort of family life did this involve for his wife ? 12. What is always the position of woman where the family thus completely overshadows the in- dividual ? 13. What virtue is most necessary for the preservation of this kind of family life ? 14. What virtues are apt to be comparatively neglected ? 15. Try to imagine yourself as the member of a family of Old Japan. What would you have most missed that your own family life supplies? Japanese Society as it is 16. What did we decide were the principal causes that induced the Japanese to adopt Western civiliza- tion ? 17. What was the effect of this adoption upon the feudal system ? 18. What, on the classes of society? 19. Compare the change in its sweep and in the dis- turbance created with that of the French Revolu- tion. The People 63 20. What became of the old spirit of military loyalty ? 21. State in what particulars the family ideas of old Japan have been changed. 22. Why have these changed less than the feudal ideas ? 23. Has there been such a change in any other Oriental country ? 24. To what extent has the position of woman been im- proved ? 25. To what influences has this improvement been due ? What Christianity can do for Japanese Society 26. What has been the effect of Christianity, with its doctrine of individual responsibility, upon the patriarchal type of family, wherever it has found it ? 27. What has been the effect of its doctrine of the equality of every one in the sight of God upon feudal and class systems ? 28. How have these doctrines influenced the position of woman in non-Christian lands ? 29. To what extent do these ideas now fill Western literature and education ? 30. What has been the influence upon Japanese society of contact with Western literature and educa- tion? 31. To what extent has Christianity therefore been responsible for the changes that have thus far taken place in Japan? 32. What has Christianity still to do for Japanese family life? For women ? For children? 33. What especially needed traits will it develop? References : Gulick : Evolution of the Japanese, especially chs. Ill, V, VIII, IX, XII, XXII, XXIII, XXIX. 64 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Cary : Japan and its Regeneration, ch. II. Bacon : Japanese Girls and Women, especially chs. Ill, IV, XII, XIII. Clement : Handbook of Modern Japan, chs. IV- VI, XIII-XV, XX. Griffis : The Mikado's Empire, bk. I, chs. II, XXII ; bk. II, ch. XVII. Peery : Gist of Japan, chs. III-VI. Gordon : An American Missionary in Japan, chs. Ill, XV. Chamberlain: Things Japanese, Articles : Education, Japanese People, Language, Marriage, Politeness, Samurai, Woman, Writing, etc. Lewis : Educational Conquest of the Far East, First part. Newton : Japan : Country, Court and People, pt. II, ch. VI. Subjects for papers or talks: 1. The feudal system of Old Japan and its influence upon character. Gulick : Especially chs. II, V, VII, XIII, XXII. 2. The family system of Old Japan and its influence upon character. Gulick : Especially chs. VIII, IX, XXIII. 3. The position of woman in Japan, — signs of prog- ress. Bacon : Especially chs. Ill, IV, XIII. Gulick : chs. IX, XXIII. Chamberlain : " Woman." Clement : ch. XIII. Gordon : ch. XV. Griffis: The Mikado's Empire, bk. II, ch. XVII. Ill THE RELIGIONS DE. A. M. FaiKBAIKST truly says that " He Good Elements who would maintain the Christian religion |n Eastern . ° Religions must be just and even generous to all the re- ligions created and professed of men." We should remember that these religions are the forces that lifted the East out of ancient sav- agery and made possible whatever of civili- zation there is. There must therefore be good elements in these religions. It is never fair to pick out only the bad and say : " Here is an- cestor-worshipping Shinto, and idolatrous Buddhism, and atheistic Confucianism. See what degrading customs and demoralizing superstitions they foster ! " "We would not like to have Japanese treat Fair Christianity in this way, for they might retort : I re ? tn ? < j nt " See how Christian nations force opium on China, and how rivers of liquor are consumed by Westerners, how crime flourishes, how hun- dreds of negroes are lynched, how divorces in- crease, and how every daily paper reports shameful things ! " So we should be fair, and do as we would be done by. The right way 65 66 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom is to show the good side of these religions be- fore we venture on needed criticisms. Or, we may think thus : " The religions that devel- oped Old Japan up to the point where New Japan became possible, may be, in the provi- dence of God, preparatory to the reception of the Christian religion, which we firmly believe is the only complete way given under heaven whereby all men may be saved." Oldest The oldest religion of the Japanese is Shinto, Rellg j apa O n " The way of the gods." Wherever you go, in every town and village, you see the artistic tori-i, the gateway to the shrine. The Japa- nese never thought of making the tori-i into jewelry, but the jewelry -loving people of the West saw at once the value of this shape for ornamentation, so that it now appears in the West in hair-pins, breast-pins, and picture frames. Massive tori-i made of granite mono- liths or cast in bronze are among the sights of this beautiful country. The word shrine should always be used when speaking of Shintoism, and temple when referring to Buddhism. For the Japanese words are dif- ferent. A Japanese never speaks of a Shinto temple, or of a Buddhist shrine. The shrine is small and plain, and has no preaching hall, while the temple is large and ornamented, and always has images in the spacious preaching hall. Shinto is first of all a system of ancestor SHINTO SHRINES BE SHRINK OP THE SUN-GODDESS, AMATERASU A FOREST OF TORI1 BEFORE A SHRINE The Religions 67 worship. It certainly was an invaluable moral Moral Power aid in the early history of the people. Men worsWp t0f must worship something, and what can be bet- ter where there is no knowledge of the one loving and true Father of all men, than for children to believe in the continued life of the parents who loved and reared them ? And in barbarous ages would not this worshipful love help to create the family, and to regulate mar- riage and divorce, and succession, and thus give stability to the family and to society ? Would it not also deepen faith in the future life, and so tend to dignify human life ? The beautiful words of Prof. T. Hozumi, of the Imperial University, in Tokyo, who boasts that he is an ancestor worshipper, are worthy of record : " We firmly believe that our ancestors, other than their bodies, do not die. They are immortal. The spirits of the fathers and mothers who loved their children, even though their bodies have perished, still in the other world live and watch over their descendants." Any one can see what a power this belief has been in the development of the Japanese na- Has Dignified tion, for the Imperial Line was regarded as National Llfe beginning with the sun goddess, Amaterasu, and the people regarded themselves as de- scendants of this line of gods. Without this belief in the divinity of their Emperor there could have been no such Japanese nation as we 68 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom now see. The great Ise shrine, dedicated to Amaterasu, is to the Japanese what Jerusalem The Jerusalem was to the Jew. Every Japanese longed to of Japan ^^ ^ s sacre( j place and worship at the f oun- tainhead of the nation's life. I visited this shrine once and was deeply impressed with the sight of an old man who had come a long dis- tance for the privilege of worshipping once be- fore his death. He reverently kneeled at the gateway, and, with his head bowed to the stone step, prayed his heart-felt prayer of one word : "Arigato, arigato" — I thank Thee, I thank Thee ! Even to this day it is taught in the elementary schools that one of the great duties of life is to make a pilgrimage to the Ise Shrine. Add to this the moral teaching that every one owes a vast debt of gratitude to the par- ents who nourished him and suffered for him, and that worshipping them is a law of heaven and a part of filial piety, and it is evident that such teaching must have been of no little value. But what shall we say of the defects of Shinto ? There are indeed too many of them, for this religion includes also nature worship. Eight Million That is, they make a god out of anything and Gods and every thing. As vou ride in a jinrikisha Goddesses jo j « through the country, you see here and there stone monuments engraved with the words, " The mountain god," " The horse god," " The river god," " The tree god," " The fox god." The Religions 69 All nature is alive with gods and goddesses, from the sun and moon in heaven, to the hills and groves and animals of earth. There is no use in trying to count up the objects of wor- ship, they are all lumped in one phrase : " The 8,000,000 gods and goddesses." Gods were so much more numerous than men, that the peo- ple called these beautiful islands " Shinkoku,' , " The land of the gods." "With this came all sorts of superstitions Degrading and charms, and even licentiousness. You can Superstitions go to one shrine and worship a snake, and by paying a sen or two you can draw lots, which will bring you good or bad luck. You go to another shrine and pray the patron god to heal your ailing eyes, and make a vow to do some- thing nice for the god of the hot spring in case he grants your petition. The seven gods of luck are famous in the art of Japan, two of which are common in almost every house. Their names are Daikoku and Ebisu, and you can buy them in brass or wood, or even minutely engraved on a kernel of rice. It must be added, however, that these supersti- i"ii-, sit lightly on the people, and they laugh at themselves for this semi-religious nonsense. Of coarse, (he new thoughl from the West that has flooded Japan has wrought some great rhanges in Shinto. The open-minded leaders of the people quickly saw that the filth of 70 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Shinto must be abolished. One edict went forth like a heavy sledge-hammer, and knocked Shinto into powder the grossest forms of worship. Reforms -r^ new education has almost killed the wor- ship of sun and moon. But what is of most significance, conductors of the great Ise Shrine, seeing that it could not successfully compete with real religion, have converted it into a purely secular organization, whose main busi- ness it is to nourish the spirit of reverent patriotism. The disestablishment of what was one of the most popular of the shrines is deeply significant of the increasing influence of Chris- tianity in Japan. The use of Shinto in the army must be men- tioned. We Westerners have costly monu- Monuments ments to commemorate the sacrifices and glo- to Soldiers r i ous successes of the soldiers who died in the service of their beloved land. In Japan also monuments are erected to the memory of the brave soldiers who died for Emperor and coun- try. But these monuments are called " Sho- konhi " (" calling together the spirits of the dead "). I have often witnessed the ceremonies at which Shinto priests, officiating at a small shrine before a monument, offer sake, vege- tables, flesh, and rice to the spirits of the de- parted, after which the regiments, drawn up in companies before the shrine, salute the dead with a bugle call. The Religions 71 We need not delay longer on Shinto except to quote from the Japan Evangelist, Yol. VII, p. 206 : " Shinto will linger and continue to at- tract thousands of worshippers to its shrines, but it is doomed to die. Amaterasu, the sun Shinto goddess, will still have her votaries here, as had Die"" 6 Apollo in Greece and Rome ; but the rays of the Sun of Eighteousness will dispel the dark- ness of this myth. The farmers will continue to worship the rice god, and sailors and fisher- men will still worship the god of the seas. But they will gradually learn of the Almighty, who sendeth seed-time and harvest, and who ruleth the wind and storms." Next to Christianity, Buddhism is the most Buddhism powerful religion in the world. It pervades all the great nations of the East, and is said to be at its best in Japan. It is a very diffi- At its Best cult task to study Buddhism. I have inquired of scholarly priests what Life of Shaka they would recommend me to read, and always their frank replies are like this : " There is no reliable Life of Shaka to recommend. You have an advantage over us there, for you have your four Gospels, but Shaka's life has to be gathered from various books and is not in shape to offer an inquirer." l 1 Sinn- writing the above, a " Life of Shaka " has appeared, written by Inoue Tetsujiro, Profes-or in tin- Imperial Uni- >eiMty. Owing t<> its timely comparison of Christ with 72 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom "We know, however, that Shaka did one noble act that will forever stand to his praise. Shaka's He renounced his high birth and his heirship Sacrifice to the throne, and became poor that he might find a way of deliverance for the people. "We know that he had a big heart of compassion for all sufferers, and that he loved a life of purity. And when he died at a ripe old age, the adoring disciples of the saintly man wor- shipped him as a divine incarnation. His religion as it appears in Japan with its dozen sects, its splendid temples, its scholarly priests, and gorgeous rituals, attracts the at- tention of every student of this country. The Two Kinds of two sides of Buddhism that impress the in- Buddhism q U j rer arGj j^s strong intellectuality, and its weak ignorance. There are many scholars who profess Buddhism, but when you ask what they believe, it turns out to be more of a A philosophy than a religion. If I were to con- 080 Creed dense it into one sentence, this would be a fair statement : They believe in no Creator, but accept an endless evolution, with unerring causes and effects ; and man can escape from the wheel of necessity and the evils of exist- ence only by being absorbed back into the un- conscious energy that pervades all things. Shaka, it will impart much valuable information about Christ to non-Christian readers. But numerous Buddhists would wholly condemn this rationalistic " Life," lM^^fe --^ Sis Ho The Religions 73 The point to remember is, that the one thought educated Buddhists repell is that of a Crea- tor. " "Who made Him ? " is their sceptical question. They much prefer the endless chain of cause and effect to any self-existent First Cause. So much for the scholarly Buddhists. But when we come to the masses, what do we find ? Jjjjjjjj* of The first objects that capture our attention are the temples and the images before which worship is performed. There is the splendid bronze Daibutsu of Kamakura, into whose head and nose tourists for a small fee are per- mitted to climb. There is the great Kara Dai- butsu, fifty-three feet high, that has stood for 1,150 years. Then come innumerable images of Shaka, followed by those of Kwannon, the Merciful ; of Amida, the deity of Boundless Light ; of Jizo, the Compassionate ; of Fudo, the Wise ; and of Koshin, amusingly repre- sented by three monkeys. Amida is the object of worship in the im- posing Hongwanji temples, the chief of which is in Kyoto. The creed of this sect resembles Creed of Christianity in one respect, it makes faith the Amida Sect most important thing. Their creed says: " Our salvation is settled the moment we put our faith in Amida." All that is required is to invoke his name us a sign of gratitude, but "prayer for bappia§pi3 in this life is not al- 74 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom lowed, as the events of life are all under a rigid necessity. To love others, live an or- derly life, and obey the laws are enjoined." How Mercy Kwannon, the goddess of mercy, shows what a strong hold Shaka's teaching of pity has on the East. It is a noble virtue, and its wide reception has wrought a great work in modifying the cruel and savage instincts of semi-civilized man. Many beautiful stories of Kwannon's saving power in times of distress and peril are told, and there is no doubt that the moral nature has been thus enriched. Fudo, the god of wisdom, enveloped in flames of fire, is another important incarna- tion. The uplifted sword in one hand, and the rope with which to bind criminals in the other, are symbols of justice and of punish- ment for the wicked. The three monkeys make an amusing spec- Monkey tacle as moral instructors. Their hands cover eyes, mouth and ears, thus teaching that there are some things you should not see, some you should not say, and others that you should not hear. But side by side with many beautiful teach- ings of benevolence and self-denial and com- passion, there are countless forms of supersti- tion in open sight all through the land. While many simple-minded people doubtless sincerely pray for divine aid, their supplications are Machinery The Religions 75 mainly for material and bodily assistance. They have prayer-beads strung together, with P/aylng by which to count off the hundred or thousand times the name of Amida has been repeated. In temples and by the roadside there are prayer- wheels, by turning which you "get blessings for the dead." To put pebbles on Jizo, secures, it is said, his aid on your journey and comfort for your children. I once saw a sad mother ask a priest to pray for her dead child ; he thereupon rang a bell, chanted some ancient words, not one of which the poor mother could understand, then gently touched her head with the end of the bell-rope, and re- ceived his pay. I have seen old women, bent with age and pain, go to the temples and rub the stomach of the god Binzuru, then rub their own, believing that this deed would cure what the doctors had failed to relieve. The worst of it is that hosts of priests encourage the pur- chase of charms of all sorts, even though they themselves know, by the new light that has come, the utter futility of the trash they sell. There are scholars who love philosophy, and who are thoroughly well aware of the gross deceptions practiced on the ignorant classes, Scholars vs. but who urge that the deep truths of Bud- dhism can never be understood by the common herd, and so the best way is to use idols and prayer machinery and charms, indeed any Masses 76 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom symbol that the untaught mind can grasp. They virtually seem to say : " Let them wor- ship these beautiful idols reverently, and repeat the blessed name of Amida thousands of times, and hang up charmed symbols that catch their eyes every time they go in and out of their houses. It really gives them comfort, and it is for them the best way, though we know there is nothing in it." I regret to write these things, for I am personally acquainted with many excellent young priests, who are really anxious to aid Attitude of the peorjle. But among leading Japanese Japanese there are those who use much stronger con- demnatory language than any missionary would care to do. They see with deep regret the degrading superstitions that Buddhism fosters, and they lash the priests mercilessly. Some of these persons disavow all religion, and say that there is no need of any religion among educated people, but since it is a necessity for inferior minds, it should be made as rational as possible. There is no especial need for missionaries to attack Bud- dhism, for the Japanese themselves are con- stantly doing it much more effectively than foreigners can do. Here is a sample of how it is done. The words are taken from an address by Baron Kato Hiroyuki, formerly President of the Imperial University ; The Religions 77 "The priests are indeed a rotten set and University they themselves have the greatest need of criticism S reformation. They are absolutely unable to save the masses, and are moreover a peril to society. It is a sad and grave question how to deal with them. Of course their corruption, is not a child of to-day, it is the accumulations of ages and has reached the climax now. Christianity is very different. There are bad priests there too, but it is marvellous — the zeal of the majority of them. Christian doctrines are hardly worth looking at, but the men who propagate them are good and helpful to so- ciety. The prime thing in religion is the men who uphold it, not the religion they uphold. The priests of to-day are evil fellows, and the damage they are doing to society cannot be condoned." I must add one more criticism taken from the JVijjjjon, one of the ablest papers of Tokyo. In an editorial on " Stirring up Bud- cSSim dhist Priests " there is this sentence : " The reason our people are indifferent to religion is not because they are deficient in religious feelings, but because Buddhist priests have lost their religious earnestness. It is wholly their sin and their shame." Equally damaging criticisms are very com- mon. What is more significant still is the fact that among Buddhists themselves are 78 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Better Priests many reformers earnestly working to improve r en y morals, and to make Buddhism a real power in the new life of Japan. The better and abler priests no longer hate Christianity as they did twenty years ago, but rather are learning from Christian methods how to main- tain more fitly their own place. Whrle writing this chapter, a learned priest called to invite me to speak with him in his temple on re- ligion. He said that ten years ago he hated Christianity and missionaries, but that he had absolutely changed his opinions. He even plans to visit the United States and England to thank the people, first, for the political and civil blessings gained through intercourse with these countries, and secondly, for sending the Christian religion, which has revealed their faults and forced them to reform their lives. He confessed that educated Buddhists no longer believed in transmigration which makes the life of man the same thing as that of a snake or bird or beast, but that they now teach the modern doctrine of heredity. Indeed there is a very strong reform move- ment in progress. Buddhists now have large Buddhist schools, and even what they call universities, e orms where their 9,000 students are taught modern science, where comparative religion is studied, and what is more remarkable, where Christian teachers are employed and the Bible is one of The Religions 79 the text-books. Prominent Christians, and occasionally a missionary, are invited to lecture on the Christian faith. The methods of Christian work are carefully studied and adopted into Buddhism. Shaka's birthday is now being celebrated somewhat like our Christ- mas. Sundays are used for their preaching days in many places. Buddhist Young Men's Associations are formed, and the secret of Christian earnestness is being eagerly sought after. Now let us look at Confucianism. This, in- deed, is not called a religion, and yet it has so Confucianism much to do with moulding the moral life of as a R el 'g Jon the people, and has aided Buddhism and Shintoism so much, that it is worthy to be classed with the religions of the country. Confucius lived in China 300 B. c, and gave to that nation the teaching that has made all generations since love and worship him. The simplest way of gaining an understand- ing of Confucius's teaching is to take his " Five Relations," the first of which is that of "Lord and Retainer. " This relation is the "Lord and main controlling principle that has shaped the Retainer " destiny of Japan. It really runs into a re- ligious sentiment, for the Samurai worshipped his master almost as if he were a god. While there was much selfish and despotic use of power on the part of the lords, there were 80 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom also many instances of noble regard for the best interests of the people. I love to read such stories as that of Uesugi Yozan, Daimyo of Yonezawa, who, when he saw the distressed Some Noble condition of the people, reduced his family ex- Lords penses by four-fifths, and wore cotton, and said his greatest desire was to be " the father and mother of the people." His instructions to his officers were : " Go with Jizo's mercy, but forget not Fudo's justice," and this shows how Buddhism helped this earnest Con- fucianist. He hated the evil influences of the harlot houses and abolished them all from his province. He said : " Clean moral homes are the basis of a nation." Here is one more illustration of a moral power that occasionally came out of Confu- Ieyasu cianism. Ieyasu, the founder of the Shogun- and his a ^ e? j s regarded as perhaps the greatest hero Japan has produced. In his wars, his enemy, Mitsunari, was defeated, and fearing the re- venge of Ieyasu's seven generals, he sent to Ieyasu for pardon. The desired forgiveness was immediately granted, but the seven gen- erals were indignant that such an enemy should escape death, and remonstrated with Ieyasu. The proverb he quoted to them shows how near the best hearts in all ages are -to Christ's " Love your enemies." His reply was: "Even a hunter will have pity on a The Religions 8l ■t5 distressed bird when it seeks refuge in his bosom." It is natural that such ideal lords should have ideal retainers, whose lives were devoted Devotion of to their masters. Sometimes this devotion Retamers took the form of killing one's self in order to accompany the dying lord on his lonesome journey to the other world. I write these words in sight of twenty-four tombs of the bravest and best of the ancient warriors of Sendai, who disembowelled themselves on the death of their prince. Occasionally this de- votion took the form of rebuking the lord for some unworthy act, even when the advice would bring death to the faithful servant. For example, an aged retainer of a young Shogun saw with deep anxiety his youthful lord's frivolous life, his love of games and dances and flowers, and determined to arouse him to his duties as a ruler. So going to the palace, he noticed a most exquisite dwarfed cherry-tree in full blossom in a splendid flower- pot, lie rather bluntly asked his lord to give him the cherry-tree. On being refused he seized the pot and dashed it, flowers and all, on the stone steps, saying : " You care moro for things than for men." He expected death, but his lord saw the earnest purpose of his servant and repenting of his own frivolous life, forgave him. indeed, this relation of 82 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom lord and retainer has been a mighty power for good in building up the nation and in fit- ting it for true representative government. Father and The next relation is that of " Father and Son," Son or, it may be more properly, " Parents and Children." When we foreigners see the words, father and mother, we naturally think of the duties parents owe to their children ; but Confucius placed the emphasis on the duties Children's children owe to their parents. The father u Ies had almost absolute power over the life of his child. A man who had become a Christian told me how he had more children than he could support, and so one morning he took his baby boy to the canal to throw him in, but the little fellow's confiding smile turned the father's heart from its inhuman purpose. He took the babe back and educated him. He is now a pastor of an important church. There were, of course, noble fathers and Parents' some splendid mothers who made every sacri- Dutles fi ce f or their children's good. One of the first Christian novels of Japan tells of a widow, whose only son was a careless, aimless boy. His mother tried to inspire him with the lofty purpose of reestablishing their house, then in danger of becoming extinct. Her efforts were all in vain, until one day she took him to his father's grave and kneeling there with him, sternly rebuked him in the face of the The Religions 83 dead for his thoughtless life. Then drawing a dirk she handed it to him with this startling- order : " Die, coward ! Die with this dirk here and now ! Then I will follow you ! " In this way this Spartan-like mother aroused her boy so that he became a great and success- ful man. He never could cease to love and reverence her. He said : " The fire of my mother's face burned into my soul and gave me the supreme decision of my life. Therefore I am a worshipper of my mother." This repre- Christian sents some of the best traditions of Japanese J™{J5JJ ,S family life, and with such a basis, it is easy to see how welcome with many is the Christian truth, which emphasizes the duties of parents and recognizes the rights even of children. The third relation is that of "Husband and "Husband Wife." Confucius expressly teaches that hus- andW,fe " band and wife are very "different" beings, which is in startling contrast to the teachings of Christ who called the twain " one." The husband of the East was carefully cautioned not to love his wife very much, as that showed Marriage an effeminate man. The kiss between hus- band and wile was wholly unknown, and when foreigners were first seen to show affection in this way, it was regarded as extremely funny. " Every time I see foreigners kiss, I catch a sick," said a student who was trying to air his English. 84 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Dr. Neesima once remarked to his students, as he was going abroad, that it was hard to Parent Before leave his wife and parents. That he should have mentioned his wife before his parents was such a violation of Eastern thought as could have been occasioned only by long con- tact with Christian homes. The order grated on the ears of the young men who heard him. Nevertheless, woman in Japan is woman still. Nine empresses have sat on the throne. Worthy Many a woman has put an end to her life rather than see dishonor come upon herself or upon her husband's name. At times, the same lofty spirit that led the Samurai to die gladly for his lord, found the wife as willing to endure death for her lord, her husband. There used to be seven reasons for divorce, but these have been greatly modified by the Divorces new laws. The official number of divorces Decreasing M1 remarkably from 12 4,075 in 1897, to 66,- 417 in 1S99, while the number of marriages for those two years were 365,207 and 297,117 respectively. It is a pleasure to add that the women of Womanhood Japan are recognizing as never before their Respected own m oral dignity. Married women have al- ways been taught to call themselves by the in- ferior term of " concubine," but now they are beginning openly to protest against the use of this word. There is no more convincing proof The Religions 85 of the wholly new position women are coming to take than the words of Prof. Inoue Tetsu- jiro, of the Imperial University. He says in a book that has gone through twenty-three edi- tions, and is used in the public schools as a reference book : " The husband should not lightly seek his own good, but should think of the happiness of her who makes his vicissi- tudes her own. He should never regard his wife as a servant nor use her harshly. Rather, as his nearest and dearest companion, he should have a deep and compassionate love for her as long as she lives. This feeling should bind the two bodies into one heart as with an iron chain. When such families abound, the foundation of the home is secure." No Japanese could pos- sibly have written such sentiments before the coming of Commodore Perry. It is one of the many gratifying testimonies to the effective manner in which the spirit of Christian moral- ity is transforming Japan. The fourth relation is that of " Elder and " Elder and Younger Brother." The Japanese language Broth?/" has no word that means simply brother or simply sister. You have to say, "this is my elder brother," " my younger brother," " mjr elder sister," "my younger sister." This is because the family is Imilt upon the up and down plan, and so every term used must show the relative position of the individual. The 86 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Elder first-born rules the others almost as though he Authority were the head of the household. The common exhortation even now is, " Be obedient to your father and " — one would naturally ex- pect the next word would be " mother" — but it is not, it is " elder brother." The elder brother ranks first, but he also has His Moral corresponding duties and responsibilities. He Responsibility ig the heir nQt Qnly of the fortune but a l so f the debts and other burdens of the whole fam- ily. He might be selfish and despotic and bring distress and ruin on the others, but there was a strong ethical idea that modified the as- sumption of selfish authority, and made the family a moral power in society. But it was not a home in our meaning of the term. "Friends" The fifth relation is "Friends." It is in practice a narrow relation, and has no refer- ence to mankind. " Confucius knew nothing of universal philanthropy" (Rein's "Japan," p. 447). What a friend owes a friend in the or- Narrow dinary intercourse of life was the usual idea FrTenS? 1 of friendsni P> but it had at times a nobler meaning : " Even a stranger is from the same great womb of nature, and hence is to be treated as a friend." How wide a meaning could be given to " strangers " would doubtless depend on circumstances. The idea of " for- eigner " we know was not included, for foreign intercourse was forbidden on pain of death, The Religions 87 and the father of the present Emperor had prayers offered up at the Ise Shrine that the barbarians from the West might all be driven into the ocean and expelled forever from the land of the gods. Now shall we call these moral and religions systems wholly " false " when there is so much » Broken truth in them ? Rather let us glory in all the £jg*j" of good there is in these imperfect religions, and remember that " in every nation those who work righteousness are acceptable to God." God has never left these peoples of the East, but has been leading them up to this "fullness of time" when the fullness of truth, as revealed in Christ, is freely given unto them. While Shaka and Confucius were truly no- ble men who have wrought a mighty work for good, yet their work was in no sense final or perfect. Sir Edwin Arnold once said to a missionary, " One verse of the Sermon on the Mount is worth all the words of Shaka." If asked in what these systems have failed, the Failures answers come at once : 1. They have failed to teach the worth and dignity of man. They teach the dignity Masses of a few upper-crust men, and leave the Ne 8 ,ected masses to be servants and even slaves. 2. Not knowing the value of man, only despotic forms of government were possi- ble, in which the words "Liberty" and 88 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Liberty and Rights Disregarded Woman Degraded Children Unappreciated Meaning of Sin Unfelt " Eights " were not known. When these words were first heard in Japan some forty years ago they were regarded as perils to the State. These old religions never could have given liberty and rights to the common people and to Eta. Only a Christian civilization could have done that. They did not give woman her true place. Some truly noble mothers have risen above their religious belief, but the mass of women were left in ignorance and in a kind of slavery. And the children — of course it was not known that they were of the Kingdom of Heaven, and that all, girls as well as boys, are worthy of being educated. Neither Shaka nor Confucius ever dreamed of call- ing a child and taking him as a text to teach needed lessons to their intellectual disciples. Christ alone knew the priceless worth of a little child. And how can men, without a knowledge of a Holy God and a sinless Saviour, know what sin is ? I saw a teacher once get red-hot with anger on being told that he was a sinner. An evangelist preach- ing in Tokyo said : " All men are sin- ners." Instantly he was challenged by an over loyal fellow who indignantly in- The Religions 89 quired, " Is His Majesty the Emperor a sinner ? " And grasping a chair he pro- ceeded to knock such ideas out of the preacher's head until a policeman ap- peared. Those who have come near to Christ in this land are quick to see what they could not see before, that the coming of Christ to Japan has given a new and deep meaning to the old word " sin." They then begin to understand the need of the Gospel message, " Repent." 6. And, after all, is not the prime defect their ignorance of God, the Creator, the Character Father, the Saviour ? How can men who unknown know not God know their own destiny, and know how to be saved from sin ? Here is added the official report of the Buddhist and Shintoist priests, shrines and temples. There are no priests nor temples of Confucianism. Buddhist Temples 71,977 " Priests 52,873 Shinto Shrines 58,071 " Priests 16,408 Questions for Study Aim.— To determine what the religions of Japan have done for her and what they have failed to do. Shinto— Its Best Side and Defects I. What effect would ancestor worship have in primi- tive society upon the stability of the family ? 90 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom 2 What effect would the worship of imperial an- cestors have upon the stability of the nation ? Sum up the helpful contributions of Shinto to ancient Japanese society. What effect has your belief in an omnipotent Father in making you free from superstitious fears ? What effect does the lack of this belief produce in Shinto ? What are the practical evils of the worship of many nature gods? What will be the effect of Christianity and Western civilization upon all such religions as Shinto ? Buddhism— Its Best Side and Defects 8. How would it affect our religious life if we had no Scriptures in the vernacular ? 9. How, if we had no life of Christ to which we could turn with confidence ? 10. How, if we could believe in no personal Father? 11. How does Buddhism illustrate the results of the lack of these things? 12. What is the best side of scholarly Buddhism? 13. What, its worst side ? 14. What teachings of popular Buddhism most nearly approach those of Christianity ? 15. What is the weak side of popular Buddhism? 16. How do educated Japanese contrast Buddhism and Christianity ? 17. What has been the effect of Christianity on that which is best and that which is worst in Buddhism ? 18. Will all this in the end be a gain or a loss? Confucianism— Its Best Side and Defects 19. What are the five relations ? 20. Which of them approaches most nearly to the Christian ideal ? The Religions 91 21. Which falls farthest short, and why? 22. What is your general criticism of the teaching of the five relations ? 23. State how each of them influenced for good and for evil the society of Old Japan. 24. How will Christianity supply what they lack ? The General Defects of Japanese Religions 25. What one belief do you consider most essential in religion ? 26. Show how this belief affects the entire life of man ? 27. Is this belief a part of the teaching of Shaka and Confucius ? 28. If not, show how its lack has influenced for ill the whole life of man under those religions. Refereyices : Cary : Japan and its Regeneration, ch. IV. Peery : Gist of Japan, chs. VI, VII. Clement: Handbook of Modern Japan, chs. XVII, XVIII. Gulick : Evolution of the Japanese, chs. XXII- XXVIII, XXXII-XXXV. (iriffis: Religions of Japan, especially chs. Ill, IV, VII, IX, X. The Mikado's Empire, bk. I, chs. X, XVI ; bk. II, ch. IV. Gordon : An American Missionary in Japan, ch. XVIII. Chamberlain : Things Japanese, Articles : Buddhism, Confucianism, Demoniacal Possession, Pilgrimages, Religion, Shinto, Superstitions. Newton: Japan: Country, Court and People, pt. II, chs. II, VII. 02 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Subjects for papers or talks: i . The effect upon Japanese history of the revival of Shinto. Griffis: The Mikado's Empire, ch. XXVIII. Japan, ch. XXIV. Chamberlain : *' Shinto." 2. The Shin sect of Buddhism. Griffis : Religions of Japan, ch. IX. Cary : ch. IV. Clement : ch. XVIII. 3. The Buddhist idea of salvation. Griffis : Religions of Japan, chs. VI, IX. Cary : ch. IV. Clement: ch. XVIII. Gulick : chs. XXXII, XXXIV. IV THE FIRST AND SECOND COMING OF CHRISTIANITY Theee are two wholly distinct periods of Christian missions in Japan. The first was First Coming begun by the earnest and successful Xavier in of Christianity 1542, and was, of course, wholly a movement of the Eoman Catholic Church. Xavier him- self was in Japan but a very short time, less than two years, but he started a work that other priests carried on for nearly a century with extraordinary results. " In little over half a century the Christians numbered nearly one million, the highest figure ever attained in Japan." But one trouble with this great missionary movement was that it was a kind of political political in Christianity. Japan was in a very unsettled Charact er state and wars between the daimyos were dev- astating the land. Buddhist priests had their strong fortified temples on mountains and in cities, and were warriors quite as much as they were religionists. They were a hard lot to manage, and the leading general, Nobu- naga, fought them savagely, burning their three thousand temples on Mount Hiei near Kyoto, where now missionaries camp out 93 94 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom during the hot months. For political reasons this general favoured Christianity, hoping thus to weaken the Buddhists. Certain Southern daimyos also, for political reasons, joined the Christian movement, and some commanded their followers to become Christians, so that things went on with wonderful success for awhile. One and another of these daimyos sent embassies to Europe to examine the po- litical situation, to meet the Pope, and study Christianity, and they brought back reports generally favourable. But after Nobunaga, arose another great general, Hideyoshi, who scorned the ways and Persecution the teachings of the foreign priests and began o r stians ^ ooc jy persecutions. These were indeed dark days for Japan. At last Ieyasu, the founder of the Shogunate, won the great battle of Sekigahara in 1600, and beheaded the Chris- tian daimyos who had fought against him. Ten } r ears later he discovered a treacherous correspondence on the part of a prominent Christian to betray Japan. He therefore or- dered all Christians out of the country and commenced those terrible persecutions which resulted in stamping out of Japan all visible traces of Christianity. Tens of thousands were killed in the executions and battles that followed. This bloody chapter ended in tightly closing Japan to the outside world for The Coming of Christianity 95 250 years, save one little island near Nagasaki where the Dutch could carry on their commerce. We cannot dismiss this century of Chris- tianity without a few explanatory statements : 1. This political form of Christianity was undoubtedly a peril to the independence of Peril to Japan. There were noble, self-sacrificing jJJj^mcB priests at work here, and among the converts high and low, there were some as true be- lievers in Christ as could be found in Europe. But none the less, the work as a whole cer- tainly threatened the peace and safety of the empire, by fostering rebellions and intrigues, so that the cruel order of extermination seemed to be the only method of safety in that age. 2. Nowhere in the history of Christianity Christians have converts endured persecutions with greater " f i ? ( !, ,n courage and firmness than in Japan. They were crucified and horribly mangled. They were burned and tortured in indescribable ways. Within a few blocks from the place where I write, the following edict was exhib- ited and similar ones were hung up in every important town : " If any one is suspected of being a Christian, inform against him at once. Informers shall Hostile have the following rewards : d cf " For a Christian priest, 300 pieces of silver. Pot a catechumen, 300 pieces of silver. For one who has Becretly retained home, -ioo pieces of silver. 96 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom For one who has lived in the same house with a Christian, 100 pieces of silver. If one informs concerning members of his own fam- ily, he shall have 105 pieces of silver. If one conceals a Christian, his house and all local officials shall be severely punished." I often pass by a little hill on which were executed thirty men, women and children who refused to deny Christ. The martyr blood has made that place so sacred in the eyes of Protestant Christians of the neighbourhood, that, when recently they were about to begin special revival services, they went out at sun- rise to consecrate themselves to their work on this hill where so many gladly died for Christ. &i, % ¥ * x k A DECREE AGAINST CHRISTIANITY The above copy of a decree of the Japanese Government against Christianity was originally written on a wooden board. This is the trans- lation : ORDER Hitherto the Christian Religion has been fordidden, and the order must be strictly kept I The corrupt religion is strictly forbidden 1 ! Done in the 3d month of the 4th [year] of Kyo (March, 1868). By order of the Inugami Prefecture. The Coming of Christianity 97 Japan was not alone in thus mercilessly Ljk e European stamping out this imperfect Christianity, for Inquisitions Europe was doing deeds equally barbarous with its abominable inquisitions and tortures for heretics. In no part of the globe had the people at that time risen to the idea of religi- ous liberty. 3. In spite of these severe measures, there Dangers of were thousands who clung in secret to their Secret faith, handed down from parents to children. While we rejoice in their indomitable fidelity, it is pitiable to note the incalculable damage done to the spiritual nature by the enforced secrecy. These people had to enroll them- selves as Buddhists or Shintoists. Their houses had the usual god-shelf, and their worship of the gods was apparently just like that of others. I know a farmer's home where a copper image of the Virgin Mary was kept daring all these ages and passed down from father to son with this solemn injunc- tion : " En this little box is a precious charm that if worshipped, unopened, will bring bless- ings to all the house. But if the least attempt be made to open the box, untold curses will fall upon all of you." Later, in days of liberty and enlightenment, the farmer ventured to open the box and out dropped the image. Faith thus secretly passed on, with no open teaching of God and of Christ and with no 98 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom written "Word of Life, could not possibly re- sult in noble Christian characters. Deep Prejudice 4. The deep hatred of Christianity that ChrisUans was t ^ LUS ^ e P* a ^ Ve * n ^ e mm( * s anc ^ hearts of the people for over two centuries is undoubt- edly one of the causes, that, even at the pres- ent time, prevents its favourable consideration by the older people, especially in the interior. There is really nothing that they feared so much as this "Evil Eeligion." And, to this day, when a son away at school in the city writes to his parents in the country that he has become a Christian, he is indignantly warned not to bring that disgrace on his house on peril of being disinherited. So real an obstacle to the spread of the Gospel is the old prejudice that one of the leading statesmen of Japan, the Hon. Shimada Saburo, M. P., has recently published a book to show, that, while the political Christianity of three hundred years ago was a real peril to Japan, the Christianity of to-day, and espe- cially Protestant Christianity, is not only not dangerous, but will bring great good to the Second With this brief reference to the earlier corn- Coming not ing of Christianity, we pass on to the begin- ning of modern missions, which, in spite of heavy drawbacks, is one of the most glorious chapters in the whole history of the Church. The Coming of Christianity 99 For the Christianity that in recent years has come to Japan is not of the political kind. It is not backed by gunboats and the power of Western governments. At first the mission- aries were suspected of being spies sent in ad- vance to prepare the way for conquests and for seizures of territory. Every Japanese who had anything to do with missionaries was suspected of being a traitor. Plots were formed to as- sassinate prominent teachers of Christianity, in the firm conviction that the success of such schemes would benefit Japan. Missionaries must, of course, have the pro- tection of their home governments as much as Treaty merchants. So the first treaty with the Provisions United States in 1858 contained a clause se- curing to Americans the right to erect their own places of worship, and also a promise that the Japanese would abolish the practice of trampling on the cross. In international relations, religion is a very big question. The revised treaty between the United States and Japan gives the Japanese the right to build temples and shrines in the United States, and to worship Amida, Jizo, the three monkeys, or anything they like; while we Americans in Japan have the right of our worship with en- tire liberty of conscience. Let us now consider sonic of the obstacles Early which confronted the first missionaries : Obstacles L.of loo Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Treaty 1- They had very little liberty of move- Restrictions men t. They could live only in the few open ports, and even there they were restricted to small plots of ground called " concessions." In the daytime they could go out twenty miles from home, but must return by night. No travelling in the interior was per- mitted without special passports. These restrictions were not wholly abolished until the treaties were revised in 1899. Threats from fanatical Samurai were not uncommon. Even as late as 1884, the missionaries in Kyoto received an anonymous letter full of murder- ous intent containing such sentences as these : " To the four American Barbarians, Davis, Gordon, Learned, and Greene, bad priests, four robbers. You have come from a far country with the evil religion of Jesus, and as slaves of the Japanese robber, JSTeesima. You are deceiving the people with bad teaching, and we shall soon with Japanese swords inflict the punishment of heaven upon you. But we do not wish to defile the sacred soil of Japan with your abominable blood. Hence, take your families and go quickly." Now Japan is as free for residence and work as any other land. 2. Far Avorse than confinement in a con- cession Avas the inability to use the difficult language. Many of the early missionaries be- The Coming of Christianity 101 gan to preach in a year or so, for great was Language their desire to tell the story of Christ. In Difficu,ties those days I saw audiences listening with reverence and deep interest to these earnest efforts, but I found out in after years that the hearers knew very little of what the missionary was saying. For instance, at the close of a sermon on John the Baptist, portraying his courage, his lofty faith, and his sincerity, one of these apparently reverent hearers asked the missionar} r whether this John the Baptist was the name of a place or of a person ! The Japa- nese are very polite, and indeed are the most sympathetic of listeners, but I have occasion- ally seen an audience nearly split its sides try- ing to hold in its laughter over some funny blunder, as when a missionary says "funeral" when he means "organization." I was once introduced to an audience thus : " Please listen respectfully to the foreigner. If you hear him say ' turtle ' (' kame ') remember that be means ' God ' (' Kami ')." There is no doubt that many a sermon has been preached on the " turtle." And so discouraging is this obstacle of the language that bitter tears have wet many a cheek in the prolonged struggle to master enough of it to tell in a worthy way the story of Christ. But now there are numerous text-books and dictionaries and fairly good native teachers. 102 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Work now All the large missionary societies have care- Systematized f u iiy prepared courses of study generally cov- ering three years, with frequent examinations, so that newcomers have not to face such diffi- culties as those encountered by the early mis- sionaries. 3. Another obstacle that exists here, and in every great mission field, is the influence of Evil Lives of evilly disposed foreigners. One of the first Residents things that impressed me in landing in Japan was the contempt and even brutality which some of the foreigners showed toward Japa- nese. Without the slightest provocation, one of these haughty fellows wantonly struck my jinrikisha man across the neck with a heavy horse- whip, raising a welt of bruised flesh as thick as one's finger. To Japan come many worthy men and women, but there are also many of low morals and dissolute life. And the general impression among the Japanese is that these wicked people, too, are Christians, and that their lives are a product of Chris- tianity. This mistaken method of judgment is ap- Sins of plied in a sweeping way to all so-called Chris- Christendom t j an coun tries. Even to-day the press of Japan contains accounts of the intemperance, gambling, divorces, murders, briberies, greed, and other evils, in Christian nations. I am more glad than I can tell that the question of human The Coming of Christianity 103 slavery was finally settled before I came as a missionary of Jesus. For the work of preach- ing the gospel of brotherhood would have been vastly more difficult, had I been a representa- tive of a nation practicing the buying and sell- ing of human beings. A recent magazine writer says of Western Christianity : " It is an empty name, an empty Not as good faith, with empty houses of worship, and the as the Book priests and believers have empty hearts." When I read such statements, I think how true is the remark of an objector to Christianity. He said : " If you people of the West were only as good as your Book, we would all speedily accept your religion." Indeed, it is true that the greatest difficulty in getting Christianity believed in Japan, is that much of Western society is yet so feebly influenced by it. In spite of these and other obstacles, there Encourage- have been many signal successes won by faith ments in the living God. But before mentioning these, it is well to bear in mind the political situation that has, in the providence of God, been a solid aid to the modern entrance of the Christian religion. I refer to the fact that Japan was opened without war. Let it be Country emphasized that, until the war with Russia, without War Japan was the only one of the groat non- Christian nations that had not been compelled 104 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom to fight with some Christian power. The bombardment of Kagoshima by the English, and the punishment of Shimonoseki, by the allied fleet, for firing on foreign vessels did not cause deep wounds. The respect shown by the Ministers of the United States and Great Britain for the rights of Japan has resulted in exceptional good-will toward these countries, and it is from these two nations that by far the larger number of missionaries come. So here in Japan there never has been any " Mission- ary question " troubling the Government, and exciting the people to acts of violence against Christian workers, and this is something for which we should be profoundly thankful. Now we come to the beginning of mission- Noble ary work in Japan. The first missionaries Pioneers i aric | ec [ j n 1859, representing the Protestant Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian, and the Dutch Keformed, followed by the Baptists in 1860. These four w r ere the only American Missionary Societies represented for a period of ten years. The English Church Missionary Society sent its first missionaries in 1869 and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 1873. Among the pioneer missionaries were some who accomplished a wonderful work. Dr. J. C. J. C. Hepburn. M. D., LL. D., of the Pres- ep urn ^yterian Church, was just the type of man for a pioneer. His medical knowledge, together The Coming of Christianity 105 with his gentle and. tactful manner, at once won for him a place in the appreciative hearts of the people. His medicines had large sales, and the cures that he wrought were greatly instrumental in removing the prejudice against Christianity. While working thus for the Japanese, he also did a most important work for the growing missionary body by publish- ing the first Japanese dictionary, a labor in- volving seven years of toil. Dr. S. R. Brown of the Dutch Reformed Dr. s. R Church powerfully influenced a number of Brown young men through his school in Yokohama, the first English school in Japan. Among his pupils are some of the ablest Christian min- isters and some of the prominent officials of the Empire. Dr. G. F. Yerbeck of the same mission will Dr. G. P. never be forgotten in Japan. His exception- ally wide range of knowledge and his rare ability to impart it gained him a high place as instructor in the beginnings of what is now the Imperial University. He was the trusted ad- viser of some of the highest officials who have done so much to make ISTew Japan. He is the only foreign missionary to whom the Emperor has given a decoration, an honour conferred on him for his valuable services as a teacher. Such meagre notices of these splendid mis- sionaries are wholly inadequate — even to indi- Verbeck 106 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Significant cate the good they accomplished, not only di- Resuits rect iy ^y their scholarly abilities, but also by their unselfish and devoted lives. It was the influence of such men that led a high official to write to the Shogun : " Western foreigners of the present day differ widely from those of former times. They are much more enlight- ened and liberal." If we bear in mind that during this decade the Christian religion was still prohibited, and that the penalty was death to any Japanese who became an open believer, or aided a missionary in translating the Bible, we can see what a vast gain it was to have such men as Drs. Hepburn, Brown and Yerbeck recognized and their services sought by those in authority. Even as late as 1871, Mr. 0. H. Gulick's teacher, Ichikawa, was im- Great prisoned and rigorously punished till he died, Difficulties f 4.1. n i / tut i a t 1 because the Gospels of Mark and John were found in his house. His wife also was impris- oned seventeen months because she had not in- formed on her husband ! Only six converts were baptized in the first ten years, but the foundations were laid for brilliant successes that were afterward to call forth thanksgiv- ings from the Church of Christ on earth. The work accomplished in the first decade seems all the more wonderful when we recall that it was the time of the American civil war. Dr. Verbeck indeed, Avas " a man without a The Coming of Christianity 107 country," the only one I ever knew of that [„ Anxious kind ; but he meant to become a citizen of the Times United States and his heart was with America in its great tribulation. All the missionaries laboured in sorrow not knowing when they might hear of the ruin of the great Kepublic, and the possible ending of their mission work. But God saved America and made surer still the foundations laid by the missionaries in Japan. Perhaps among the successes of the next decade the highest place should be given to the translation of the New Testament. No mission work is on a safe basis until the Holy Scrip- tures have been translated in the vernacular in a style that will command the respect of the reading classes. It is revealing no secret to First say that the first attempts of individuals at 1™^°* translation were wretched failures. A good translation of the Scriptures is one of the hardest tasks to which a missionary can apply himself. It was twelve years before the first Gospel was published. Then a committee of three, Drs. Hepburn, Brown and Greene, were appointed to translate the New Testament. Although they were aided by skillful Japanese scholars, it was nine years before the work was completed. The Old Testament was di- vided among a larger committee, but the iinal revision was committed to Drs. Hepburn, Ver- 108 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom beck and Fyson, and ten years more were spent on this great work. It was, therefore, Twenty-nine twenty-nine years (1888) when the glad an- Year Task ♦ i / i ?• < nouncement was made to a large audience or missionaries in Tokyo, that a complete transla- tion of the Bible had been accomplished. Speaking on that memorable occasion Dr. Hepburn, chairman of the committee, who had devoted sixteen years of his life to this work, said, with deep emotion : " What more pre- cious gift, more precious than mountains of gold or of silver, could the Christian peoples of the West give to this nation ? May this sacred book become to the Japanese what it has come to be for the peoples of the West, a source of life, a messenger of joy and peace, the foundation of a true civilization and of social and political prosperity and greatness. It is not claimed that the translation is per- fect, but it has been in circulation for sixteen years with ever-increasing acceptance, and has been kindly praised by non-Christian na- tive scholars as a model of style. It is antici- pating a little, but it is a sign of the value that the Christians attach to this Bible that in 1898 they presented a richly-bound copy costing about $150 to the Emperor, through the hands of Count Okuma, then Premier. An epoch-making event, not accomplished by missionaries, but none the less a prepara- The Coming of Christianity 109 tion for Christianity, was the unexpected Edict for adoption by the Government of Sunday as the observance official rest-day. It happened on this wise. The Government employed a goodly number of foreigners in education and other de- partments, many of whom refused to work on Sundays. The foreign legations and consu- lates were closed on that day. Now the usual rest-days in Old Japan were only two a month, the first and the fifteenth. And it is said that Prince Iwakura, disliking to -introduce any Christian custom, and yet hoping to please the foreigners, issued a generous edict announcing six government holidays a month. But the foreign employees, many of whom were earnest Christians, would not give up their Sundays, so that in some months these official rest-days, added to the Sundays, made as many as ten days when foreigners were absent from their posts. Threats to dismiss the offenders brought no change ; and after two years of this confusion, the Government decided to conform to the custom of the West, and in March, 1870, boldly issued this edict: " It is hereby notified that up to the present time the first and sixth days have been observed in the Government offices as the days of rest. I Jut hereafter all Government offices will be closed on Sundays." It is hard to estimate the value this edict no Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Value to has been to the Christians of Japan. Before ChrEns ** was issued - * fc was impossible for the growing Christian community to attend Church with any regularity. While the majority of the people take little note of the day, it is known as the Christian's day for preaching and wor- ship. Even Buddhist schools close on Sun- days, and the priests, too, use this day for special preaching. The merchants have no rest-days at all, and the farmers still cling to their local days of rest, but with the spread of Christianity, Sunday will be to Japan the blessing that it has been to other nations. Questions for Study Aim.— To estimate the hindrances and helps to the en- trance of Christianity. i. What was there in the work of early Roman Cath- olic missions that was a blessing to Japan ? 2. What was there that was harmful ? 3. What results have been a help to the present work of Protestant missions ? 4. What results have been a hindrance ? 5. What do you consider on the whole to have been the greatest hindrance to Protestant missions in Japan? Why? 6. What would you select as the second greatest hindrance, and why ? 7. Name three other important hindrances and be pre- pared to defend in the class your reasons for selecting them. The Coming of Christianity 1 1 1 8. Can you suggest any ways by which these hin- drances might be removed ? 9. What do you consider the principal help that Japa- nese missions have enjoyed as opposed to most missions in other countries ? 10. What the second most important help, and why ? 11. Name other special helps and show their impor- tance. 12. What was the greatest hindrance in the first decade of mission work? 13. Name other important hindrances. 14. What was the greatest help in this decade? 1 5. Sum up the results of the decade. 16. What hindrances were removed during the second decade ? 17. Was the great popularity for a time of all things foreign on the whole a hindrance or a help to missions ? 18. What other things is it especially important for a missionary to study while learning the language ? 19. Why was it so difficult to make a perfect translation of the Bible into Japanese even after the language had been mastered ? 20. Ought progress in missionary work to become more rapid or more slow as time goes on ? Why ? 21. Why is it that travellers in Japan sometimes bring home such unfavourable accounts of mission work? 22. Give all the reasons you can for the special value of earnest Christian laymen in non-Christian coun- tries. References : Cary : Japan and its Regeneration, chs. V, VI, IX. Peery : Gist of Japan, chs. VIII-X, XIV. Gordon : An American Missionary in Japan, chs. II. IV. 112 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Griffis : The Mikado's Empire, bk. I, ch. XXV. Chamberlain : Things Japanese, article : Missions. Ritter : History of Protestant Missions in Japan, ist and 2d divisions. Newton : Japan : Country, Court and People, pt. II, chs. IV, V; pt. Ill, chs. I, II. Griffis : Religions of Japan, chs. XI, XII. Verbeck of Japan. A Maker of the New Orient. Gordon : Thirty Eventful Years in Japan, chs. I— III. Murray : Japan, ch. XI. Subjects for Papers or Talks : 1. Points to be observed by new missionaries. Gordon : An American Missionary in Japan, ch. III. Cary : ch. X, sec. I. 2. How Christianity attracts. Gordon : An American Missionary in Japan, chs. IX, XVIII. Uchimura : Diary of a Japanese Convert, chs. II, IV. Hardy : Life and Letters of Joseph Hardy Neesima, ch. I. 3. The relations of the United States with Japan. Newton : pt. Ill, chs. I, IV. Foster : American Diplomacy in the Orient, chs. V, VI, X. Griffis : America in the East, chs. XIII-XVI, XXII, XXIII, XXV, XXVI. V FIVE FORMS OF MISSION WORK We have thus far noticed the high regard « ah Things which the first missionaries won from influen- are Read y" tial Japanese, the scholarly victory these Christian pioneers gained over the difficult language, and their successful translation of the Bible. Moreover, the significant change in public opinion, and the adoption of Sunday as the Government rest-day, have made it possible to begin open and organized evangeli- zation. In the glad words of the parable we can gratefully say, "All things are ready." God Himself had prepared Japan for friendly intercourse with Western nations and for the reception of the glad tidings of salvation through Christ. Modern missions everywhere — and Japan is no exception — can be best understood by con- sidering the five great divisions through which the work is carried on, Evangelistic, Educa- tion;! I, Medical, and Literary Philanthropic. These are the five lingers of the great hand that shapes modern missions. "3 1 14 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom /. — Eva ngel 1st ic Wo rk. First The first Christian Church in Japan was ChurciHa organized with eleven members by the Eev. Japan James Ballagh in Yokohama, March 10, 1872. It was born in prayer. That in its member- ship there were nine students is indicative of the prominent part students have had in building up the Protestant Churches of Japan. The first article of their creed showed a posi- tive purpose to keep the Church as free as possible from the sectarianism of the "West : "Our Church does not belong to any sect whatever ; it believes in the name of Christ in whom all are one; it believes that all who take the Bible as their guide and diligently study it are the servants of Christ and our brethren. For this reason all believers on earth belong to the family of Christ in the bonds of brotherly love." The next churches were formed in Kobe and Rapid Growth Osaka in 1874, in connection with the mission- aries of the Congregational Church. The for- mer consisted of seven men and four women, while the latter had only seven men. There is no more hopeful, enthusiastic missionary literature in existence than the letters written at that time by Messrs. Greene, Davis, Gordon, and others : " There are a dozen young men eager to preach the Gospel anywhere. All this region is open to the Truth, so that our Five Forms of Mission Work 115 helpers can go anywhere among the millions of people and find willing listeners." " The work is pressing on us in every direction. We are expecting any morning to awake and find all Japan open to us, and wanting to come to us ! " These first Christians had very much the Christians of same spirit as those whose doings are recorded £p° stohc in the Acts. They felt themselves to be called to be witnesses for the Christ on whose cross their race, until recently, had trampled in con- tempt. In their enthusiasm they went here and there preaching to audiences large and small. They wanted no money from mission- aries, being animated by the spirit of self-sup- port and aggressive evangelism. It is impossible in this little book even to yearly mention the many bands of Christians that Pentecosts soon began to be formed in all the great coast cities of Japan. In the second decade, the number of believers increased so rapidly that in one year, 1879, 1,084 new members were added, making a total membership of 2,701 adults. After that, a fifty per cent, annual increase was not at all uncommon, and in some years as many as 5,000 were received into the churches. The gain during the third decade, 1879-1889, was 28,480, over ten times the en- tire number previously gained. The growth in the fourth decade was not n6 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Present nearly so rapid, owing to causes that will be Numbers ment i one( j i a ter ; yet the new century opened with a total of 42,451 Protestant Christians, 538 churches, of which about 100 are self- supporting, and 348 groups of Christians not yet organized into churches. The contribu- tions of these believers for the first year of the new century were 102,229 yen. The latest statistics show that there are now 50,512 Christians, who raised in 1902, 120,330 yen, and whose church property is valued at 495,- 655 yen, a large proportion of which was raised by the native Christians. Their A most significant fact and one that serves Generosity to in us t ra te the healthy and vigorous growth of the Christians is that there are two wholly independent mission boards of the Congrega- tional and Presbyterian Churches, which raise about 12,000 yen a year and support their own missionaries, some fifteen, at present. Self- support is a burning question in all mission fields, and one cannot understand the work without knowing something of its practical workings. This question early engaged the attention of the Christians, and the first to practice it was the Eev. Paul Sawayama, whose brief life is well told in a little book A Modern called, " A Modern Paul in Japan." He was PauI the first Japanese to be ordained in Japan (Dr. Neesima was ordained in the United States), Five Forms of Mission Work 1 1 7 and he was the first to proclaim the necessity of self-support. It must have taken immense courage and exalted faith to attempt such a thing with only eleven members, all of whom were poor, save in their faith and in their love for their pastor. The Kev. H. H. Leavitt was his inspiring adviser and no other missionary in Japan thought the plan could succeed, but here is the surprising result as recorded in Mr. Sawayama's biography : " The Naniwa Church grew very rapidly. At the end of five years it had increased its annual contri- butions from $70 to $700. It had started another independent church in Osaka, and had made a beginning in nine other places. It had also established a Christian girls' school in the city." This magnificent beginning of self-support Sacr j fJce sent a thrill of surprise and delight through- for sake of out the little churches of Japan. The attend- e " suppor ant arduous labours undoubtedly shortened Mr. Sawayama's life, but he worked believing that he ought to sacrifice everything for the sake of this principle. I know of two other evan- gelists who deliberately cut themselves off from foreign money, well knowing that their little bands could not possibly give them suffi- cient support. They preferred to suffer ex- treme poverty in order to plant the spirit of self-support and self-respect deep in the hearts 1 18 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom of their followers ; and their heroic determi- nation cost them their lives. This self-sacrific- ing spirit of thousands of Christians is one of the surest proofs that the spirit of Christ is present with power in the rapidly growing church of Japan. Growth of Some of these independent churches have a Japanese . *■ Leadership membership of over 500, and report annual contributions as high as 2,^88 yen. In some of their pulpits no missionary is seen from one end of the year to the other. Some of the pastors' sermons are regularly published, and for stirring thought, deep sincerity, and living faith in God and Christ, they compare favour- ably with the best that are heard in city churches of Christian lands. It is this intel- lectual ability combined with loyalty to Christ on the part of the preachers, and the spirit of grateful giving on the part of the members that lead many missionaries to say : " Were the whole missionary force permanently with- drawn from Japan the good work would go on, and Japan would become a Christian na- tion." "Were this to happen, however, the progress would not be so rapid. II — Educational Work. Every large mission plans to open schools for boys and girls just as soon as possible, in order to train adequately equipped ministers WWi**" ^* f*p-:.-:r-'^-- • J^:«wW; J3L»> m flkv Jm> Hi EV WCKUSTir. EDUCATIONAL, EVANGELISTIC BAND, IMI.! DING PRESBYTERIANS. AND COI SCHOOL OF SCIENCE. THE STAFF I »F ST AM) MEDICAL WORK METHODISTS, GRKUATIONALI8TS DOSHISHA, KYOTO J'KI'.'S HOSPITAL, TOKYi Five Forms of Mission Work 119 and teachers. But before dealing with these Two Pioneer Christian schools, I desire to call especial atten- Teachers tion to the work of two Christian teachers in Government employ, far away from mis- sionary centres. These are Capt. L. L. Janes in the southern island, and Pres. W. S. Clark in the northern island. Since it was my good fortune to know both men and to hear from their own lips their unique experiences, I am all the more glad to record what they accom- plished in the extremes of the Empire. In 1872 Captain Janes, formerly an in- 5? n . d ° f . TtT l _, . ' . ' ? . , Christian structor in West romt, was employed to found students a school in Kumamoto. He was an able teacher and an earnest Christian, inspired with the one aim of securing the highest welfare of his pupils and of extending the Kingdom of God. Every Saturday night he read the Bible with a band of students, who came to study English and also to "find holes" in the Christian teaching. But the Gospel finally found its way into their hearts, and one after another confessed his faith in the risen Lord, so that in three years there was a band of thirty believers. The island of Kyushu was of all places in Japan the most turbulent over the coming of foreigners and the inhabitants were strongly dissatisfied with the new Government. There were excited Samurai who longed for a chance i2o Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom tv Deadly Plot to cut off Captain Janes's head, and they showed their disposition by spitting at him on the streets. When it became apparent that some of the students had really become be- lievers of the hated religion, there was no mistaking the murderous purpose of the fanatical Samurai. A company was formed to kill all the converted boys on a certain night, but the plot was discovered just at dusk. With blanched faces the youth went to the captain's house crying, " We're all to be killed to-night ! " " Very well," cheerfully replied the captain. " Then you'll all be in Heaven to-night, and I'll be there with you ! Get your swords, and I'll take my revolvers." The director of the school was sent for and sternly asked why he permitted the plot. The culprit denied his guilt but the captain decisively said : " I know it all, and you're at the bottom of it. If a single hair of these boys' heads is injured, off comes your head first of all." This effectually prevented the intended Sequel slaughter of the young men who did not, however, escape bitter persecutions. Together they dedicated themselves to God on a hill overlooking the castle, and from that con- secrated band came one of the most powerful Christian movements Japan has yet known. Alas, some of that gallant group lost their Five Forms of Mission Work 121 faith completely, and Captain Janes him- self, in later years, fell away and tried to undermine the faith of those whom he had so inspired. Other members of the band gained high positions in Government service, and some are pastors of influential churches, and men of power, known and honoured abroad as well as at home. President Clark did his work in Sapporo in A Teacher 1876. When General Kuroda, Yice-Governor of Ethks of Hokkaido, escorted Dr. Clark to Sapporo to found the Agricultural College, the question arose as to the best method of teaching morals to the students. Dr. Clark declared the Bible to be the best text-book, but the general strongly objected to the use of any Christian literature in the school. Dr. Clark then re- quested that some one else should be asked to teach morals, but the general, who had set his'heart on having Dr. Clark take this branch also, said, " You go ahead and do it in your own way." And so the Bible was at once put into the hands of the twenty-four students. President Clark was in Sapporo less than six months, but during that period he marvellously Bhaped the characters of his pupils. Mr. Bow- Abiding land says: "The model barn he built is of Fruitage wood and will decay, but the characters he helped to form are a part of the enduring treasures of Japan. The thirteen of the first 122 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom class all received baptism, and nearly all of the second class became Christians." •into All the This spiritual movement, so powerfully Wor,d " begun, has been an abiding force in this Government College ever since. " The gradu- ates have gone out into all the earth and their works do follow them. Over a score of them have taken degrees in American and European Universities. They are almost without ex- ception men of high ideals and of noble per- sonal character." Dr. Mtobe is a man well known in the United States for his valuable English books, "The United States and Japan," and his "Bushido, or, The Moral Principles of the Samurai." The present president of the institution, Dr. Sato, is a pillar of the Methodist Church, and often ap- pears on the platform. Of these graduates, Mr. K. Uchimura is perhaps the best known in the United States by his fascinating book, " How I Became a Christian ; " and were he to write another on, " How I Continued a Chris- tian," it would tell of hardships and victories for Christ of an unusual order and of rare interest. It is a wonderful providence that led these Providence two Christian teachers from America to these Movements two ends of Japan to begin a work, the influ- ences of which have been felt for good every year since in the cause of Christ in Japan. Five Forms of Mission Work 123 The students of these schools are filled with the spirit of independence to such a degree that they dislike the use of foreign money in propagating Christianity, Though some of them have lost their deep interest in Chris- tian work, there are others whose names are known all over the land as unwavering be- lievers in Christ. We now come to the distinctively Christian The Doshisha schools of which there are several of almost international reputation. Since in this little book there is no space for the story of more than one, I select the one that was first per- mitted to exist outside the open ports, the Doshisha. A brief sketch of the difficulties that were overcome will show what it costs in patience and tact to lay foundations for Chris- tian education in Japan. In the first place, there is need for men of p rov idence in unwavering faith, who know how to organize Neesima's and use other men, and who believe them- raimng selves to have been called of God to that work. Certain it is that God raised up ISTees- ima, the first Japanese who, at the peril of his life, secretly left Japan in 18G4 that he might go to some Christian country and learn about the Maker of heaven and earth. In the providence of God, he landed in Boston and was educated by the Hon. Alpheus Hardy, a Christian merchant. He studied in Amherst 124 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom and Andover, and after nine years, when Prince Iwakura and his embassy went around the world, young Neesima was asked to join the distinguished party in going through Europe. In this way, he became intimate with the most eminent Japanese statesmen of his day, and they liked him in spite of their aversion to his new religion, and tried hard to get him to enter the Government service, where he might have had a high position. But his heart was set on having a Christian college in his native land, and no offer of rank, and no bitter opposition could turn him from his purpose. Here then was the man that God provided. _ Initial When he reached Japan with $5,000 with which to begin the school, the official classes almost to a man opposed his plan, and the Buddhists were fiercely set against him. His foreign money to them meant foreign control, that is, the property and direction of the school would be in the hands of the mission- aries, and to this no governor in Japan would consent. Neesima could establish his school outside of foreign ports only on condition that the whole property was legally his, and no missionary could teach in such a school except as an employee of Mr. Neesima at a fixed sal- ary paid by him. The school must belong wholly to Japanese and no foreigner could Five Forms of Mission Work 125 own a foot of the soil or a tile on the roofs of the buildings. Even the missionary dwell- ings, though built entirely with foreign money, were under the same restrictions. Not a door nor a window of them could be owned by a foreigner. This created a tre- mendous difficulty. Not only large property contributed by the Christians of the United States, but the missionaries also were to be under the supervision of the Japanese, who themselves received all their money through these missionaries. Some thought that the American Board would not sanction such a passing over of control to Japanese ; for, should Neesima die, there was no legal process by Avhich the property could be held to its original purpose. It would belong to JSTees- ima's heir. But the American Board hap- pened to have the Rev. J. D. Davis on the ground. lie, like Neesima, had a firm belief in God's purpose to establish this school. His war record fitted him to overcome difficulties. He entered the Civil War as a private, rapidly One Purpose rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, marched through Georgia with Sherman and, in spite of all kinds of perils and severe wounds, in- sisted on living. After the war he gave him- self to Japan. Officials could not prevent his preaching the Gospel, and no Buddhist howls, or tli reals of assassination daunted him. Uo Two Men of 126 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom & v trusted God, lie trusted Neesiina, and they twain were of one purpose, which is the mean- ing of the word Doshisha. The school was opened in Kyoto in rented Prayerful buildings, November 29, 1875. There were pemng eight pupils and two teachers, ISTeesima and Davis. Dr. Davis wrote thus : " We began our school this morning with a prayer-meet- ing in which all the scholars took part. I shall never forget Mr. Neesima's tender, tear- ful, earnest prayer as we began school." There is a beautiful mountain, 2,700 feet A fountain high, called Hieizan, just east of Kyoto. When Neesima's school was started, a Bud- dhist priest of the city is said to have face- tiously remarked : " Might as well try to re- move Hieizan into Lake Biwa as to start a Jesus school in this city." Hieizan still stands, but those other mountains of difficulty that seemed so impossible to remove, have largely disappeared. Those who wish to read more about JSTeesima will find an excellent chapter in Gordon's " Thirty Eventful Years in Japan," and in the biographies of Neesima by Prof. A. S. Hardy and Dr. J. D. Davis. Friends in the United States contributed most generously for the construction of build- ings of brick and stone, and many prominent Japanese, including some of nobility, contrib- uted thousands of dollars in token of their ad- Five Forms of Mission Work 127 miration of Neesima. But after Neesima's Another death, when the desire for absolute independ- S oJ v b e |j ra ence from all foreign connections became para- mount in the minds of the Japanese, the mis- sionaries awoke one morning to find that the Bible had been taken out of the collegiate de- partment, and that even the unchangeable con- stitution of the school had been altered without consulting the American donors. Probably nothing the native Christians have ever done has caused such a shock to the whole missionary body of Japan. It was widely felt that the Japanese Christians were both ungrateful and untrustworthy. Ultimately the Japanese who were in possession resigned and turned over the control to others who reestablished in the insti- tution those principles for which Dr. Neesima and the American donors made great sacrifices. The disputes have been finally settled, and all parties concerned are in thoroughly friendly relations. The troubles were occasioned by the over-sensitive feelings of the Japanese and their interpretation of their rights under the trust usages of Japan. A chapter might well be given to the dozen Ten T housaad Other Large boys 1 schools, and what their In Christian graduates have done for Japan, intellectually, morally and spiritually. There are eleven theological schools, with 1 1 ! students, seventy- eight day-schools, including kindergartens, 128 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom with 6,203 pupils, so that, including the girls' schools, over 10,000 pupils are under Christian training. It is the glory of modern missions that the Extent of Christian women of the West are anxious that ° Work t° their Eastern sisters should be preached the same helpful Gospel that has blessed them. The unmarried women missionaries outnum- ber the married men and their wives. And one immediate result is schools for girls. "Wherever these consecrated women go, these schools spring up. First Woman The first woman missionary on Japanese soil Missionary ^ Migg Maj ^ Kidder, now Mrs. E. R. Miller, of the Dutch Reformed Church, who arrived in 1869. The stories of her experiences in the days when the sight of an American woman produced as much excitement as Yan Am- burgh's circus, together with the magnificent treatment given to her by the high-class Japa- nese, are intensely interesting. She began a school with two girls. Soon another girl came of whom her father said : " She's a fool and will learn nothing." It turned out that the father was the fool, since he spent his earnings in drinking sake, while the girl be- came a teacher. The pupils rapidly increased, and the Governor of Yokohama became so in- terested in this wholly novel experiment that he provided Miss Kidder with a schoolhouse Five Forms of Mission Work 129 and presented her with a closed carriage, say- ing : " The distance is too great for you to walk." But no missionary is satisfied with a day- school. Nothing- short of a boarding school Boarding to . School Begun will give the idea of a Christian home with its blessed privileges ; but it was not until 1875 that the Ferris Seminary, on the bluff over- looking the new city below, with its beautiful harbour, was dedicated to Christ and opened for the daughters of Japan. The effects of Christian education on the Education girls are seen in the new ideal of home of which Jjjjjj 8 , ife hosts of encouraging examples could be given. Here is one of which Miss Kidder tells : One of her girls from a poor Samurai family was asked by her father to become the wife of a high official who had once seen her at the school. Her father thought that she would eagerly agree, but she was silent. When pressed for a reply, she begged to be excused as she would have to give up her Christian faith. The family urged her to accept the proposal, since the marriage would better the condition of the whole family, and she could secretly be a Christian as before. Now it is one of the hardest things in the world for a Japanese daughter to thwart her father's wishes, but this girl did it. It is utterly im- possible for the thousands of girls who have 130 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom felt the influence of these Christian teachers not to have a vastly higher ideal of the home than they had before. It may not be wholly due to these schools, but the Western family idea has so impressed even the law-makers that the word concubine does not once appear in the new Family Law. G ' rlS ' S w-d°i S Schools for girls were a surprise to the peo- Scattered pie here, but these are now found in nearly all the great cities, and often in interior towns. One of these schools has had over a thousand pupils on its rolls. To be sure, " Many girls remain but a short time, not long enough to learn much of Christian truth, or to have their characters largely moulded by their school life. Yet even these girls often gain more than we realize. There are vast results which we can never see." The influence of these schools on the Gov- Government ernment girls' schools is a point that deserves fo^Women permanent record. I heard a high official say not long since, at the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Baptist Girls' School in Sendai : " You missionary ladies have done a vastly greater work for Japan than you ever dreamed of. Our Government had no hope of success in establishing girls' schools until we were inspired by your successes. You have been to us as timely reenforcements to a dis- couraged army, and without your example Five Forms of Mission Work 131 there would now be no growing system of higher female education." The last " Annual Eeport of the Department of Education " has these significant words : " The education of girls is a problem for the solution of which earnest labour is still required. There is only one girl in the higher courses to seven boys." It will thus be seen that the forty-four boarding-schools for girls with their 3,616 Woman's pupils are none too many. This work is as ^ christian valuable as anything that the Christians of the Product West can do for this receptive nation. There is a great university for girls in Tokyo, where over a thousand pupils from all parts of the Empire are studying. President Karuse never would have thought of building that univer- sity but for the Christian faith in which he was educated. HI.— Medical Work. Medical work is by common consent the most helpful and successful method of show- important as ing the Christian spirit of love. You can get at a man's heart often by curing him of the disease of his body. Dr. Eepburn was the first in Japan to do tins, and his fame as a physician did much l<> break down opposition and prejudice. Or. J. C. Berry also demon- strated that the physician could go where the minister could not, ami, by means of his tour- Pioneer Agency 132 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom ing, openings were made in several towns where churches soon sprang up. He won the confidence of officials who permitted him to inspect the sanitary condition of prisons. His suggestions with regard to the health of the prisoners, and their more humane treatment were widely distributed among prison au- thorities for their instruction. Later on, in 1887, he opened a training school for nurses and a hospital in connection with the Doshisha in Kyoto and did splendid work in these and other directions. Other medical men too have done good and Still needed as abiding work, but as Dr. Taylor aptly says : Philanthropy ., T ? „' . ,. i- 1 , . 1 " In view of the evolutions which have taken place in this country since the commencement of missionary work, the conclusion must be arrived at that medical missionary work, as an auxiliary of general missionary effort, no longer occupies the important position it once did, but has gradually assumed the position that benevolent and charitable work does in Europe and America." The Government hospitals in every province, the numerous in- stitutions for healing carried on by Japanese who have graduated from medical schools in Japan and in the West, and the growing number of physicians and surgeons, make foreign medical work somewhat superfluous, except as benevolent work for the aid and A Christian Five Forms of Mission Work 133 comfort of the poor. " When we consider," says Dr. Taylor, " that the regular medical charities of all Japan, as given by the Government and by private aid, hardly amount to $75,000 a year, 1 while for the United States $80,000,000 are thus spent, it is plain that the opportunity for medical chari- ties here is wide and large, and it would serve both to develop Christian sympathy and to be a stimulus to the Government and the people to provide in some adequate measure for the poor and unfortunate." Dr. W. N. Whitney is an authority who has a right to be heard on this question. After Hospital completing his medical studies he was ap- pointed from Washington as interpreter of the United States Legation in Tokyo. Being an earnest Christian he started a little hospital, hoping thereby to reach some of the poor with the Glad Tidings. As the work grew he felt more and more the call to give himself wholly to it. So he resigned his comfortable position, enlarged his hospital, became an independent medical missionary and enlisted for his work the sympathy of many friends in Japan and abroad. His cordial manners and his enthusiastic faith made it easy for him to secure the cooperation of Japanese Christian 'In 1900, ;i Japanese gave 100,000 yen for a charity hos- pital. 134 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Japanese physicians in his gracious ministrations. Physicians Well-to-do patients gladly go to his hospital and help to support it. During the sixteen years since the establishment of the institu- tion from 15,000 to 20,000 people have come under Christian influences, and scores have been converted. Many Japanese Christian physicians have been infected with this spirit of loving sacrifice and strive earnestly to bring patients to a knowledge of Christ. While writing this chapter, I accidentally heard of one of these unobtrusive workers, Dr. Takata of Tokyo, over whose desk hang, in large type, the words, " God is Love ; " and every Sunday he has a Christian service in his hos- pital for nurses and patients. The statistics of the Protestant Churches Christlike show fourteen hospitals and dispensaries, and Contagious tne tota ^ °f patients has sometimes been as high as 29,000 in a year. The Eoman Catho- lics are also doing a good work in this line with their seventeen dispensaries. These figures only hint at the great value medical missions have been to Japan, and especially to many Japanese physicians who have caught thereby the spirit of Him who " went about doing good." Five Forms of Mission Work 135 Questions for Study Aim. — To estimate what evangelistic, educational and medical missionary work has done for Japan. 1. How do you think it happened that such a large proportion of the first church in Japan were students ? 2. What motives do you think induced these men to put themselves under Christian influences ? 3. What practical advantages are there in having a native church adopt such a creed instead of that of the missionaries under whom they were con- verted ? 4. To what do you attribute the earnest spirit of the first Japanese churches ? Give several reasons. 5. What are the arguments for and against self-support by the native Church ? 6. If you could have foreseen the future, would you have advised Mr. Sawayama and the two other evangelists to act as they did ? 7. What advantages has a native over a foreigner in preaching the Gospel to his people ? 8. Which missionary has exerted the strongest Chris- tian influence in Japan, the evangelistic or the educational missionary ? Give five reasons for whichever view you adopt. 9. What arc the dangers of either form of work apart from the other ? 10. Which one missionary worker seems to you to have done on the whole the greatest work for Japan? Give reasons. 1 1. Which were most needed in Japan, schools for boys or girls ? Give three reasons for whichever view you adopt. 12. What arc the three greatest things which medical missions have done for Japan ? 136 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom References : Cary : Japan and its Regeneration, ch. X. Peery : Gist of Japan, chs. XI-XV. Gordon : An American Missionary in Japan, chs. I-XV. Thirty Eventful Years in Japan, chs. III-XIV. Clement : Handbook of Modern Japan, ch. XIX. Hardy : Life and Letters of Joseph Hardy Neesima. Davis : A Maker of New Japan. Ritter : History of Protestant Missions in Japan. (Much of value scattered through.) Uchimura : Diary of a Japanese Convert, chs. I-V. Griffis : Verbeck of Japan. A Maker of the New Orient. Ecumenical Conference Report, chs. XXVII-XXXI. Subjects for Papers or Talks : 1. The work of Neesima. The life by Davis gives a much more compact account than that by Hardy. 2. The Kumamoto Band. Davis : A Maker of New Japan, ch. IV. Gordon : An American Missionary in Japan, ch. V. 3. Evangelistic work in Japan. Gordon : An American Missionary in Japan, chs. VI, VII. Cary : Japan and its Regeneration, ch. X. Peery : Gist of Japan, ch. XIII. VI FORMS OF MISSION WORK (Continued) I V. — Philanthropy. One can only marvel at the great change Japanese that has recently come over all Japan in its Philanthropy ,. ! , • t ! ,s Modern care for orphans, lor the poor, the sick, the depraved and fallen. Fifty years ago, if a famine occurred in one province, the starving ones would receive no help from other prov- inces. Even Buddhists, with their beautiful teaching of the duty of mercy would offer no' help. But when, in 1902, the rice crop largely failed in three Northern provinces, and 150,- 000 people were brought into extreme poverty, thousands being forced to live entirely on such leaves and roots as the forests afforded, Bishop Berlioz, a Catholic missionary, published an account of the sufferings and peril of these people, and at once foreigners contributed about 25,000 yen. Then Japanese in distant parts of the Empire began to give. The Em- peror's contribution was 22,000 yen, and two millionaires each gave 10,000 yen. News- papers here and there opened their columns for reports of contributions. The .Japanese are *37 138 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom very kind within certain rather narrow limits, but contact with the humanitarian sentiments of the West has already broadened their sym- pathies considerably, so that the Ked Cross Society in Japan has perhaps a larger mem- bership than in any other country in the world. One paragraph from Dr. J. H. Pettee's valu- Beoevolent able reports will give a vivid idea of what Work of Christians are doing along benevolent lines : Christians ° ° " They have thirty-one orphanages, four homes for discharged prisoners, three blind asylums, three leper hospitals, two homes for the aged, five schools for the Ainu, four free kinder- gartens, ten industrial schools, ten other schools for the poor, ten boarding houses for students, and fourteen hospitals. Or, in other words, the 200,000 Christians of Japan have in hand about one-fourth of all the regularly or- ganized benevolent institutions of the land." Of these institutions, the best known is the Okayama Okayama Orphanage, opened by Mr. J. Ishii Orphanage in lg87> Inspired by the example of George Mueller, who had visited Japan the preceding year, he began his work by adopting one boy. A few months later he formally opened his asylum, renting for that purpose a commodious Buddhist temple. The institution grew rapidly in size and influence, and now cares for 236 children, while as many more have graduated into society and are earning their own living. Forms of Mission Work 139 There were six baptisms within the orphanage in 1902. The children are taught the value of labour, and a cash account is opened for each one, 122 having deposits in the savings bank amounting to 137.22 yen. The position to which the orphanage has attained in the respect of the people at large Respect it is seen by its list of 10,265 sustaining members, Has Won nearly all Japanese, who each contribute one yen a year. The largest gift from a Japanese is 1,854 yen. Why he made it this odd figure I cannot tell, unless it was because of his de- sire to commemorate the date of Commodore Perry's treaty with Japan. The largest gift ($5,000) came from an American. Perhaps the best proof that this work stands unique among the benevolent institutions under Chris- tian supervision was the conferring on Mr. Ishii of " The Blue Kibbon " by the Emperor. In this public manner, His Majesty recognized his fifteen years of self-sacrificing service in behalf of homeless children. Another reason why this orphanage is so favourably known all over the land is that the little fellows have a stereopticon, with views of themselves at orphans work, at play, at worship, in school, and asleep at Work four to a bed. They have also a musical band which gives concerts and lantern lectures far and wide. In 1902* the receipts from these entertainments amounted to L4,392 yen. 140 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom In Tokyo is the well-known Home for Dis- Homefor charged Prisoners, founded by Mr. T. Hara. D p S< * a nSs Everybody knows how exceedingly difficult it is to reform discharged prisoners and turn them into useful members of the community. For seven years, Mr. Hara has been at work, and he testifies, that, out of over 500 who have been welcomed to the Home, four-fifths have been saved to honest lives, and many of the rescued have become Christians. So high a place has this work of reclaiming criminals gained for itself in the esteem of prominent people in the capital, that Count Okuma recently gave a " Chrysanthemum Party " on his magnificent lawn for the benefit of the Home, and over 3,000 yen were raised among the guests. Here is an interesting story of one of the Burglar inmates. A man was arrested for burglary in Converted & christian school. One of the girls, whose room he entered and whose clothing he stole, not losing her presence of mind, gently asked him to take her New Testament also. He was permitted to keep the book in prison, and the result of his study was that he became a devoted Christian. On his discharge, he went to Mr. Hara's Home, and recommenced life as a carpenter. More than that, he led his former accomplice also to become a Chris- tian. In this connection it should be recorded that a large amount of Christian literature is Forms of Mission Work 141 permitted in some of the prisons. I know of one in which the prisoners were permitted to buy from their slim earnings over 300 yen worth of Christian books in one year. The reformatory work of Mr. K. Tome- Mr. Tomeoka's oka, should next be considered. He prepared ^. a ™ ily . himself for his work by carefully studying the methods adopted by similar institutions in New England and ISTew York. On his return to Japan, his thorough knowledge of this per- plexing problem attracted the attention of the Government, and he was appointed to be the teacher of morals in the Sugamo Prison in Tokyo, which is Japan's model prison. The Buddhists, however, made a great outcry over the employment of a Christian Chaplain, and the Government removed Mr. Tomeoka, but gave him an even better position, that of In- structor in the School for Training Prison Officials. He has held this position for three years ; but his heart goes out toward the chil- dren who are in danger of becoming criminals, so that, iu addition to his heavy official duties, he has opened n reformatory which he calls '•'llir Family School," and in which there are thirteen wayward children. He has about three acres of hind and property worth about 1.0,000 yen ; and, as opportunity offers, he in- tends to build homes, each large enough to hold fifteen children. 142 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom These are but examples of what the Jap- anese Christians are doing. Who can estimate Buddhists the wide influence for good these works of Christians l° ve are exerting on all classes of society ? Already Buddhists are imitating the Chris- tians in every form of philanthropic work, and Baron Mitsui has given 100,000 yen for a charity hospital in Tokyo. V. — Literary Work. Thirty years ago, there was not a newspaper Thirty Year or magazine in all the Empire ; now there are Co s about a thousand publications and it would be hard to find a people more eager to read than the Japanese. Just as soon as evangelists go here and there preaching the Word and churches begin to be formed, there comes a great demand for tracts. The first tract was published secretly from wooden blocks, in 1864, with Dr. Hepburn's aid, and had the Japanese printer been discovered cutting out these " Christian " blocks, he would have been promptly beheaded. Ten years later, Dr. Davis had immense difficulty in getting his brief tract, " The Short Way," put into collo- quial and cut onto blocks. Of that leaflet 100,000 copies were distributed in ten years. As soon as the Japanese began to use the printing-press, the number of tracts rapidly increased, and now the list of these contains PHILANTHROPIC AND LITERARY WORK OKAYAMA ORPHANAGE, TOKYO COTTAGE METHODIST PI Bl [SHING SOUSE, GINZA, Tokyo Forms of Mission Work 143 over 400 titles, with an annual circulation Numerous averaging about 500,000 copies. During the circulated Forward Movement, which celebrated the in- coming century, 37,602 copies of one tract were distributed, amounting to 2,306,528 pages. And one native house sold, in 1902, 21,832 copies of tracts and books, or 1,468,326 pages of Christian literature. Something more substantial than tracts were found to be necessary, and books began Early to be issued. Some of the first of these were Christian translations from Chinese books, and thus the missionaries of China greatly aided the work in Japan. I remember one book that had an immense sale all through Japan, Dr. W. A. P. Martin's "Evidences of the Heavenly Way." The Chinese virtually rejected the book, but the Japanese warmly welcomed it, and it was the means of bringing thousands into sympathy with Western civilization and the Christian principles which are its foundation. Commentaries also are a necessity. Many commentaries a Japanese bas stumbled over the first chapter invaluable of Matthew with its genealogical table, and over the strange names of persons and places. Moreover, after one has become a Christian, he cannot study his Bible without helps, nor can the evangelist teach and preach without books of reference. Dr. I). W. Learned has done by far the largest part in this form i_|4 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom of work, and Lis fifteen volumes of commen- taries on the New Testament are invaluable other aids. Apologetics, Theology, Lives of Christ and of Paul, and translations of the lives of eminent Christians are becoming numerous. Books on Livingstone, General Gordon and others are having a great sale outside the Christian body, and are quietly influencing many to study " The Book " that helped to make these men great. Adjutant Yamamura, of the Salvation Army, published " The Com- mon People's Gospel," and in two and a half years 10,000 copies were sold. Among periodicals, one of the oldest and most popular is The Good Tidings, which, for over twenty years, has been edited by Mrs. E. R. Miller, the founder of Ferris Seminary. It is very hard to make a Christian paper pay, since the Christian constituency is so limited. But the Revs. M. Uemura, and H. Kozaki, and Mr. K. Uchimura, and others have done it, and done it well. Of course, almost every mission has its own paper, but these are mainly Christian supported with mission money. A valuable Periodicals ci ir { st j ail literature has been produced by ear- nest and gifted Japanese, and their books are selling even more largely than those written by missionaries. Moreover, some of the ablest writers in the secular press are Christians, and I have seen an occasional editorial in a daily Forms of Mission Work 145 paper that would not be out of place if uttered Christian from an English or American pulpit. Not in- secufarPress frequently do these sincere words reach some hungry soul, who is thereby led to inquire into Christianity, and, perhaps, to yield himself to Christ. I know of one who saw an editorial on " The Use of Money," not for self but for others. The reader was a dissolute young man of a wealthy house, who spent his money in riotous living. Because of this article he became an inquirer with the result that he soon quit his evil ways, joined the church,' opened a preaching place in his village, in-' duced his Buddhist parents to welcome Chris-, tians workers, and for three years he has been* valiantly " keeping the faith." The names of Uchimura, Kozaki, TJemura, Miyagawa, Matsumura, Ebuka, Ebina, Tome- christian oka, Harada, Motoda, are not only those of i ap t J n J se able preachers, but also of men whose books speak to far wider audiences than their ser- mons. There are Christian professors in the various schools and even in the Imperial Uni- vi'isity whose writings are very helpful. Christian members of the Diet, too, have pub- lished some influential books; and, at last,' Christian novels are beginning to have real success, edition after edition being quickly sold. 1 Besides these five comprehensive forms of labour, the following auxiliary forms deserve 146 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom "Diversities especial mention: the Young Men's Christian Operations " Association, the Christian Endeavor Society, the Salvation Army, the Temperance Society, the Scripture Union, and the Bible Society. Young lien's Christian Association. The first Young Men's Christian Association hall was erected in Osaka in 1881. The mis- * Financial sionaries of the various denominations in Japan Beginnings felt the need of a pla(je in Tokyo [r which mass meetings could be held, and where inter- denominational work could be done. As it was useless to ask the different home boards to unite in this work, it was agreed to ask the Young Men's Christian Association of the United States and Great Britain to contribute each $1,500 for the purpose. Sir George Williams of London immediately sent $1,500 as his own contribution, and Dr. Monroe, who happened to be passing through Osaka at that time, left a check for $1,200. Australian friends sent several hundreds of dollars, and thus a brick hall of 1,200 sittings was built near the centre of the city. Mr. J. T. Swift, the first secretary for Japan, at once placed the work among the important agencies for Christianizing the land. He secured a gift of $50,000 from one person, and in 1894 erected a commodious brick building for class and committee work, while, as a provision against Forms of Mission Work 147 earthquakes, the audience hall is contiguous to the main building. If any one who knows Tokyo, is asked what is the most conspicuous Christian edifice in the city, there will be but one answer. It is not the Russian Cathedral that overlooks the city from Surugadai, nor any of the 125 places of worship, but it is the Young Men's Christian prominence Association. The late beloved American min- ° f X^ M ' c " A " Building ister, Col. A. E. Buck, once said : " There is perhaps no other building in Tokyo that stands more prominently before the general public as an index of organized Christianity than that of the Young Men's Christian Association," and Dr. Greene declares : " The Saturday and Sunday meetings are probably the most notable gatherings in the city." From this building issue streams of Christian influence that are felt for good not only in the capital, but in the most distant provinces. In the hall are heard lectures not only from prominent Christians, but from statesmen, business men, members of the nobility, and distinguished visitors from foreign lands. Nothing shows more plainly the firm hold Notable this centre of Christian work has on the public Wen as than the fact that the late Hon. K. Kataoka, 1 •President Kataoka died Oetobei 31st, 1903 and Prof. K. Shimomura, an earnest Christian, has been elected his suc- 148 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom President of the House of Representatives, was also President of the Young Men's Chris- tian Association, and among the fourteen di- rectors are professors, lawyers, physicians, and other men of large position and reputation. At their tenth anniversary, May 8, 1903, Count Okuma, ex-Premier, said : " I am happy to express the hope that young men will more and more take advantage of the opportunities for religious, social, intellectual, and physical improvement which your Association affords." Baron Maejima has given his testimony also. TeStalSc! " : firml y believe >" he said > " we must have re- ligion as the basis of our national and personal welfare. No matter how large an army or navy we may have, unless we have righteous- ness at the foundation of our national exist- ence we shall fall short of the highest success. I do not hesitate to say that we must rely upon religion for our highest welfare. And when I look about me to see what religion we may best rely upon, I am convinced that the relig- ion of Christ is the one most full of strength and promise for the nation and the individual. I congratulate your Association upon the good work it is doing." Baron Shibusawa has re- cently visited America, and though he is one of the leading financiers of Japan, he saw something more than money. He said : " I was much surprised and impressed by what I Forms of Mission Work 149 saw of the work of the Young Men's Chris- tian Association in America, not only as a re- ligious but as a social factor in the community. I earnestly hope that the Associations in Japan will make such progress as will enable them to meet the great needs of our young men." There is now in each of the seven Govern- Encouraging ment Colleges a Young Men's Christian Asso- Facts ciation, and there are forty-five more in middle and high grade schools, which, together with the nine city associations, make a total mem- bership of 2,500. It was these associations that made possible the telling work of Mr. John R. Mott, by which a thousand inquirers were gained during his brief visit. Summer schools, winter schools, and spring „... schools have sprung up in different educa- Conferences tional centres. For a week or ten days, stu- dents gather for Bible study and for stimulat- ing lectures on religious subjects. Sometimes as many as two hundred thus take brief courses in the life of Christ, and go back to win their comrades to faith in their Lord. A unique phase of work which is having a Christian great success is that of providing English Teachers' teachers for middle and high schools. In L890 91, twelve American college graduates were thus called to Japan, several of whom taught many years or became missionaries. Recently twenty more have been employed, Agency 150 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom two of whom have gone home to prepare for missionary work. These men not only make excellent teachers, but also by Bible classes in their homes, and by their truly moral lives, have influenced many to become Christians, and have been the means of the formation of three new associations in the interior. There are now five foreign and two Japanese secretaries. Money is being pledged in the United States for buildings to be erected in Nagasaki, Kyoto, Sendai, and other large cities, while the needed land will be bought with money contributed by Japanese. The sum needed to put these associations upon a solid basis is $200,000. Signs of Largely as the result of the appeals and Progress p ra y ers culminating in a special day of prayer, eighteen young men decided to engage in Christian work, one of whom was a student of the Imperial University. The fact that Mr. Takai is the first graduate of the university to enter Christian work, has not been without influence. Young People's Societies. In the summer of 1886, when most of the American Board missionaries were spending the hot months on the templed hills of Hieizan, one of the mothers said to Dr. Davis, the act- ing pastor of the camp, " Can't you have some Forms of Mission Work 151 kind of class for the children as a stepping- First c. E. stone to church membership ? My older chil- Societ y dren are nine and seven, and while they are Christians I wish they could have some prep- aration for entering the Church." Dr. Davis replied that he had recently been reading of a Society of Christian Endeavor, and perhaps something of that kind would be a good thing for the missionary children. So he drew up a simple pledge somewhat similar to that of Junior Christian Endeavorers', and thus was formed the first Christian Endeavor Society in Japan, composed entirely of the children of the American Board Mission. Some of these Endeavorers are now missionaries and others are volunteers. The first real impetus given to the move- impetus of ment was occasioned by Dr. F. E. Clark's visit 2f- c, ?^ k .' s , , „ ... First Visit in 1.VJ2. In a year the number of societies in- creased to fifty-seven, but they decreased to less than half that number during the reaction that weakened so many churches. In at least one case, however, the Endeavorers saved a church which otherwise would have collapsed. Dr. Clark's second visit was on the rising tide, just when the Christians were planning to usher in the new century with an earnest advance in all forms of work. The eighth An- nual Convention was held in Kobe at that time, and the idea that this society represented 152 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Growth in a world movement first dawned upon the as- Eight Years sem bly. Thereupon they elected their presi- dent, Eev. T. Harada, a delegate to the World's Christian Endeavor Convention in London. Since then the Christian Endeavor Society has become a prominent factor in the churches, ten denominations being represented. At the Eleventh Annual Meeting held in Kobe, April 1-3, 1903, there were reported one hundred and fifteen societies, twenty-eight of which were formed during the last year, and twenty-eight Junior societies, and a total membership of over 2,300. Seventy societies, stretching from Hokkaido to Kyushu were represented at this meeting, and members from India and China were present. The work is most prosperous in Tokyo, Attempting where there are twenty societies. It is planned Great Things i Q p usn this organization all through the land, and for this purpose Japan is divided into twelve sections, each with a secretary. Six hundred copies of The Endeavor (monthly) are published, but one vigorous little Society in the North has its own jelly-pad Endeavor, containing twenty-four pages of illustrated, up-to-date articles. Although the Christian Endeavor Societies in Japan far outnumber the young people's organizations belonging to distinctive denomi- nations, yet mention should be made of the Forms of Mission Work 153 Baptist Young People's Union and the Growth of Epworth League. The first chapter of the US? 1 Ep worth League in Japan was organized at Nagasaki in 1891, and within two years had a membership of eighty young people. They unitedly entered upon aggressive Christian service, the young women conducting eleven mission Sunday-schools which had an average attendance of 600 children, and the young men preaching at two and sometimes three mission churches. In three years' time, there were four chapters of the Epworth League in Japan, and in 1896 the number had increased to eleven. In 1900 a central office was es- tablished in Tokyo, and an existing publication was made the official League paper. At the meeting of the Japan Methodist Conference in 1902, a resolution was adopted expressing a desire that the Epworth League and the Christian Endeavor Society might be united in closer sympathy and practical cooperation. The Temperance Movement. From the first the Christians set themselves Evils of Sake against the ruinous soJte drinking customs of Drinking the people. Society in those days was so con- structed that men had to drink whether they liked it or not, and wives had to serve the cup at feasts. To refuse to drink was regarded as an insult that sometimes cost a man dearly. Stand 154 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom AYe may frankly acknowledge that a drunken Japanese is seldom seen on the streets, except in the very lowest quarters but, nevertheless, sake drinking, done mainly at night, is a fruitful source of poverty, crime, and im- morality. The temperance reformers are hav- A Courageous ing remarkable successes in educating public opinion upon this subject. I attended a feast given by teachers in honour of the present Minister of Education, Baron Kikuchi who w r hen the sake began to flow arose and said, that, as he did not drink sake, he would at once proceed to deliver his address. That brave remark aided many teachers that night to say, " No." The many local societies w T ere organized as Worthy " The National Temperance League of Japan," of which the Kev. K. Miyama is the earnest and efficient evangelist. The work is a great blessing to the churches. " Because of this movement hundreds have been brought into touch with Gospel truth, and even into the fold of the Christian Church, who, otherwise, in all human probability, would never have given Christianity favourable consideration." The Hon. T. Ando, President of the League, when consul in Hawaii was led by Mr. Miyama to give up sake, and then to become a Christian. He testifies that the temperance work in Hawaii saved the Japanese Immigra- Results Forms of Mission Work 155 tion Company from collapse, and made it pos- sible to keep the valuable Japanese labourers in that field. The League has sixty-five branches and 3,760 members, and is a power- ful aid to Christian work. The Bible Society. This Society is the outcome of the union in Public 1890 of the National Bible Society of Scotland gjj^j* (1875), the American Bible Society (1876), Friendly and the British and Foreign Bible Society (1881). It sells its books at the cost of publication, so that a Gospel can be bought for half a cent, and a New Testament for five cents and upward. In the early days, Japanese bookstores would have nothing to do with the books of the " Jesus Way," and sales had to be effected through mission- aries, churches, and colporteurs. In 1882, a Bible store was opened in Nagasaki, but the keeper was mobbed and his goods were thrown into the street ; but new stores, in all the large cities where there is a demand, gladly keep Bibles on sale. Since 1875, Urge Work 2,418,021 copies of Bibles, Testaments, and portions of the Bible have been distributed by sale or gift. During the year 1902, 6,125 Bibles, 31,058 New Testaments, and 114,933 portions, a total of 175,991 copies, were 156 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom circulated, for which 11,207 yen were re- ceived. During the Japanese-Chinese war, Mr. Loomis, the agent of the American Bible Society, had great success in overcoming the Work Among prejudice against the Gospel among soldiers, Soldiers and wftg nQt Qnl y p erm itted to distribute thousands of Gospels to them, but was warmly- thanked by the Chief of Staff of the Imperial Guard in these words : " Our Imperial Guard feels that for both officers and men spiritual education is highly important. We are much pleased that you have presented us with a Bible for number of Bibles, and Prince Komatsu also is Emperor exceeding iy g i a( }.» That the Christians prize their Bible may be seen partly from the fact that they raised three hundred yen, and had a richly bound copy prepared for the purpose and presented to the Emperor by the hand of Marquis Ito. The Scripture Union. In 1884 this organization was formed for the Nine purpose of encouraging the daily reading of the Thousand Scriptures. Its magazine, in which the daily Dai Rea B ders readings are simply and attractively explained, is to the 9,000 members of the Union a great help, many of whom live in the country apart from church privileges. Dr. Whitney, of whose hospital work mention has already Forms of Mission Work 157 been made, is also the promoter of this good work. The Salvation Army. At the coming of the Army in 1895, some did not think that the methods of the Salva- wise tion Army would be successful in Japan, but Adaptations its officers were men and women of ability and tact, who at once adapted themselves to local conditions. They won some able Japa- nese as co-workers, and have already developed a work that is greatly blessing the classes they especially aim to reach. In their success- ful efforts to rescue girls who have been sold Rescue Work into slavery of the worst sort, some of the officers have been roughly handled and even wounded, but the agitation created has re- sulted in an important change in the laws of Japan so that now these girls can at any time abandon their wretched lives. The Wai' ( '/■>/ of the Army is a marked success, having a circulation of 11,000 copies twice a month ; yterature and of " The Common People's Gospel " 10,000 copies were sold in two years and a half. Dur- ing 1902, 15,0(10 books and tracts were published, and 1,272 people were converted, but less than half that number joined them- selves to any church. The Army's exceptional attainment in self support is worthy of praise. In 1902, they raised 7,441 yen, or thirty-eight 158 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom and one-half per cent, of the total expenses of the work, including the salaries of all foreign officers. The Army conducts a Home for Sailors in Yokohama, and a Prison Gate Home in Tokyo. Questions for Study Aim— To estimate the need and results of broad Chris- tian activities in Japan. 1. Give three reasons for the importance of philan- thropic work as a department of Christian missions in Japan. 2. In view of the teachings of Japanese religions, why was there so little charitable work fifty years ago? 3. Was there anything in Shinto that would incite to such work ? 4. Why did Buddhism bear so little fruit in this line ? 5. What was there lacking in its teaching that in Chris- tianity supplies motives for helping others ? 6. Upon which did Confucianism lay most stress in its doctrine of the five relations — the duties of supe- rior to inferior, or vice versa ? 7. What effect would this have upon charitable work ? 8. What effect would the feudal system of Old Japan have upon the idea of the brotherhood of man ? 9. What effect would its family system have upon the idea of the value of each individual ? 10. Sum up your answer to the first question, arranging your reasons in what seems to you the order of their importance. Forms of Mission Work 159 11. Just what is it in Christianity that has made this great change in Japan ? 12. What do you consider the five most important de- partments of Christian literature for Japan ? 13. What advantages has a Japanese over a foreigner in preparing this literature ? 14. Give three reasons for the importance of Christian literature as a department of missionary work. Give three reasons why you consider each of the fol- lowing forms of Christian work especially needed in Japan : 15. That of the Young Men's Christian Association. 16. That of the Christian Endeavor Society and Ep- worth League. 17. That of temperance. 18. What are the best things accomplished by the Bible Society ? 19. Could this work be as well done by the different Boards instead ? 20. Is Japan overstocked with Christian agencies? 21. If you had $10,000 to invest in mission work in Japan, how would you place it to secure the very greatest good ? Give three reasons in support of your choice. References : Cary : Japan and its Regeneration, chs. X, XI. Gordon : An American Missionary in Japan, ch. XVI. Thirty Eventful Years in Japan, pp. 68-71. Clement: Handbook of Modern Japan, ch. XIX. Ritter : History of Protestant Missions in Japan, pp. 321-341. Ecumenical Conference Report, chs. XXIV-XXVI, XII. 160 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Subjects for Papers or Talks : 1. The difficulties and needs of literary work. Gordon : An American Missionary in Japan, ch. XVI. Ecumenical Conference Report, chs. XXIV- XXVI. Report of Toronto Convention, 1902, pp. 549- 556. 2. The work of the International Committee of the Y. M. C. A. in Japan. For literature write to 3 West 29th Street, New York City. 3. The work of the American Bible Society. For literature write to the American Bible So- ciety, Bible House, Eighth Street and Fourth Avenue, New York City. YII THE FORCES AT WORK There is no land in which differences Differences among missionaries are so few and unimpor- Minimized tant or in which unions have reduced the number of agencies to so great a degree as in Japan. The usual way of speaking of mis- sion forces in Japan, therefore, is to refer to them as unions of allied societies under the familiar names of Baptist, Congregational, Episcopal, Methodist and Presbyterian. Baptist Forces. Baptist work in Japan commenced under Beginnings the American Baptist Free Mission Society in 1862'; and! their first missionary, the Kev. Jonathan Goble, was sent out in the same year. To him belongs the distinction of hav- ing invented the jinrikisha, which has been adopted as the common mode of conveyance in Japan to-day. In 1872, this society united with the American Baptist Missionary Union, and Dr. Nathan Brown was sent to Yokohama. Saying been a missionary in Assam, India, where he had translated the New Testament, 161 162 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom his whole heart was filled with the desire to give the Gospel to the Japanese, and his Baptist version of the New Testament was completed in seven years. The growth of this group of missions was Present slow up to 1889, when there were twenty-one Status missionaries, four ordained Japanese, four schools, and one theological seminary. The American Baptist Missionary Union has now fifty-eight missionaries occupying nine stations extending from Nemuro and Otaru in North- ern Hokkaido to the tiny Liu Kiu Islands, south of Kyushu. There are ninety-six organ- ized churches with eight ordained pastors and 4,259 members. Of these churches thirty- eight are entirely self-supporting, while the total contributions in 1902 were $2,022 (gold) or an average of about fifty cents per member. There are ten schools of various grades with 652 pupils, and one theological seminary with eighteen students. It will thus be seen that the main strength A Tireless °f these two missions is exerted in two of the Evangelist fi ve spheres of work, the evangelistic and the educational. At Sendai, Mr. E. H. Jones is indefatigable in touring to places where other missionaries seldom go. He preaches in sea- son and out of season, on the streets, in tents, on the cars and river steamers, in hotels and in the homes of the people. He is deeply in- The Forces at Work 163 terested also in aiding the poor, and is the recognized head of that kind of work in the missionary community at Sendai. Among Baptist schools, the Ella O. Patrick Home in Sendai, of which Miss Lavinia Mead was a founder, is an excellent type of a Christian girls' school. The number of scholars is limited Typical Girls' only by the capacity of the buildings, and the Sch ° o1 fifty girls are taught that character is supreme and that scholarship must be linked with moral purpose. The Duncan Academy in Tokyo is a growing school, whose main object is to fit students for the Theological Seminary Training in Yokohama. It was not founded until 1895, Schools for ... Preachers and has erected only recently its recitation hall. With consecrated teachers it cannot fail to become a power for good in the lives of hundreds of young men, and a training school for teachers and pastors. The strong purpose of the Baptists to make Gospel steam everything lead to the giving of the Gospel to L aunch the common people is well illustrated by the following facts. They have a unique work among the fishermen and farmers on the islands and along the shores of the beautiful inland sea, below Kobe. A Japanese evangel- ist on board a small steam launch visits the populous islands. Sometimes the people are invited to come on deck to hear the Gospel and to get Christian literature, at other times 164 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom the workers go ashore and hold meetings. In one year sixty-two different islands were thus visited. Meetings were held in 350 towns and villages, and 40,000 people had the Gospel preached to them. In many of these places no Christian service had ever been held before. Battling with the changing currents of this inland sea is not the dangerous task it was in the days when a small sailboat was the only means of transportation. Everywhere the mis- sion launch is Avelcomed, and the Government has given it permission to visit many islands to which other foreign ships are not allowed to go. Most valuable work is also carried on in the Opening in Liu Kiu Islands, which are about as large as Islands the state of Rhode Island, and are said to have about 400,000 inhabitants, who live for the most part in extreme poverty and ignorance. Through the generosity of a woman, who saw the need as she was making a trip around the world, work was begun on these islands in 1891. Now there are thirty-five Christians on the Liu Kiu Islands and a successful industrial school with 130 pupils. Congregational Forces. Beginnings The attention of the American Board was directed to Japan in response to the prayerful request of Mr. Neesima that Christian work be begun in that empire ; as a result the first Con- The Forces at Work 165 gregational missionaries, Rev. and Mrs. D. C. Greene were sent out in 1869. Five years later, Mr. ISTeesima joined the mission, which by that time had twenty-four missionaries with two little churches whose formation has al- ready been mentioned. In a few years (1882), " there were nineteen churches with a member- ship of about a thousand, three ordained pastors and five houses of worship, erected without other aid from the Board than a grant of $500 for one of the buildings." During the next year, there came a great re- The Doshisha vival wave which swept over all the churches Revival of Japan, its wonderful power being especially felt in the Doshisha school, where at the end of two weeks there was scarcely one of the 150 students who had not surrendered to Christ. Thus the foundations were laid and the way prepared for the grand ingathering which fol- lowed from 1884 to 1889. " The nineteen churches which in 1882 had Eleven-fold only one thousand members became in the next Increase eleven years more than ninety churches, forty- two of them self-supporting, with a total mem- bership of over 11,000." There being some 60,000 Japanese in Ha- work opened waii, several of the Congregational evan- Jn Hawaii gelists went there to work for the people on the sugar plantations. It was an innovation when Rev. and Mrs. H. Kozaki, of Tokyo, were 166 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom sent to Hawaii by influential Christian officers of the Emigration Company to study the field and report. The story of this mission to Hawaii, and the welcome given to these well- known workers by the owners of the planta- tions as well as by their own countrymen, is rich in promise of a very vigorous work soon to be carried on in behalf of these labourers. The recent appointment of Dr. and Mrs. Doremus Scudder to Hawaii is a significant action. Before going there Dr. Scudder spent a year in Japan, and Baron Utsumi, Minister of Home Affairs, gave him introductions to the governors of the provinces from Avhich the labourers chiefly go, and every attention was shown him as he went through Japan, study- ing the conditions of labour and the homes of the emigrants. In education, this mission has accomplished Doshisha a great work. The story of the Doshisha has Alumni a i reac }y been partly told. It reached its zenith of prosperity in 18S9-1890, when there were nearly 700 students in the collegiate and theo- logical departments, and over 200 in the girls' school and the training school for nurses. Dr. Neesima's death was an irreparable loss to the school, which in seventeen years had graduated 112 students in theology, and 216 from the collegiate course, of which 200 had professed their faith in Christ. Nearly 5,000 students The Forces at Work 167 have entered the school since its beginning, and about 2,000 have been graduated. Of these graduates, over eighty are preaching, 160 are teachers, 221 are in business, 156 are pur- suing further studies, twenty-seven are officials, and sixteen are editors. The education of girls has not been wholly Girls' Schools neglected. There is the Kobe College with its ^support- fine equipment of teachers and buildings, noted also for the rare beauty of its situation. This is the only girls' school which belongs to the mission, and is aided financially by mission funds. All the others are under the control of Japanese Christians, and receive little or no aid from the Board, save the help of one or more lady missionaries as teachers. Of these schools, the Baikwa Girls' School in Osaka has the honour of being the first financially inde- pendent Christian school in Japan. There are also schools in Kumamoto, Matsuyama, Okayama, Tottori, Maebashi, Niigata, which have inspired unusual self-denial on the part of both teachers and pupils, and have been training-schools for Christian workers and teachers. Besides these there are in Kobe the Bible-School for Women and the Glory Kindergarten, while several other kindergar- tens have sprung up here and there in the country. In medical work, Osaka and Kyoto are the i68 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Two Medical two centres that have been most fruitful in Centres christian influences, but owing to the rapid introduction of Western medical science, and the multiplication of Government and private hospitals, this branch of work as an aid to direct evangelization has been almost wholly given up. Numerous In publication work, this mission has been Publications ac ti ve . It has circulated over 725,000 tracts and books, representing more than 52,000,000 pages, not to speak of a considerable number published through the Tract Society, the Keiseisha, and the Methodist Publishing House. The number of titles now on the mission's list is eighty-eight, besides various periodicals. Episcopalian Forces. Episcopalians The first Protestant missionaries sent to the Pioneers j a p an un der regular appointment were the Rev. J. Liggins and the Kev. C. M. Williams, of the American Episcopalian Church, who reached Nagasaki, June, 1859. There is no name better known among the missionaries of the Episcopal Church than that of Dr. Will- iams. He became the first bishop in Japan, and performed Episcopal functions for a third of a century, after which he retired from official duties to devote himself wholly to evangelistic work. "He is preeminently an SOME FOUNDERS AND LEADERS JAMES C. HEPBURN. M.D.. LL.D. BISHOP CHANXIXG M. WILLIAMS. D.D. BISHOP MERRIAM C. HARRIS, D.D. REV. GUIDO P. VERBECK. D.D. REV. JOSEPH HARDY NEESIMA, LL.D. MISS LAVINIA MEAD The Forces at Work 169 evangelist, goes everywhere in all weathers a True and under all conditions to preach, to baptize, pother to administer the Eucharist, to open mission stations, to instruct the congregations, to guide inquirers, to direct and foster the work by any and every means in his power. Wherever he goes he is received as a ' father in God ' with love and reverence." For thirteen years this mission made very S j ow p r0 g reS s little progress, and had but one baptism, but shortly thereafter twenty converts were bap- tized. By this time the Church Missionary Society of England had begun its work in Japan (1869) and the Society for the Propaga- tion of the Gospel followed in 1873. Here then were three missions of the Angli- strength In can communion. It was soon apparent that ^ nlon their differences should be minimized for the sake of the greater work that could be done as one organization. The desired union was ac- complished in 1887. This, however, was not the first union of kindred bodies in Japan, an honour that belongs to the Presbyterians. But what is worthy of note is this, that foreign missions tend naturally to as much organic union as possible. And the formation of the two English Societies and one American into the Nippon Sei Ko Kwai, Holy Catholic Church of Japan, is worthy of praise. The mission that began in weakness and 170 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Number of experienced many disappointments in the early Increased y ears > received a new life upon the forma- tion of the united movement. The number of bishops was increased and now there are four from England and two from America. Tour missionaries, Drs. McKim, Evington, Fyson and Foss, who had served from ten to twenty-six years in Japan, were consecrated bishops of Tokyo, Kyushu, Hokkaido and Osaka. Dr. Awdry was consecrated in Lon- don as bishop of South Tokyo, and Dr. Par- tridge was transferred from China to be conse- crated bishop of Kyoto. The rapid development of this united work Rapid Growth may be gauged by the fact that in 1883 there were only thirty missionaries, wives included, and 761 Christians who contributed a total of 708 yen. The number of Christians has doubled about every five years. There are now 224 missionaries, forty-seven ordained Japanese pastors, sixty-nine organized churches, two of which are self-supporting, 10,997 Christians who contribute 15,827 yen. It is expected that before long a Japanese will be consecrated bishop, and he will be wholly supported by his own churches. This work includes the interesting and successful labours among the Ainu in Hokkaido, and extends as far South as the Liu Kiu Islands. In education also, this Episcopal family is doing extensive The Forces at Work 171 work. Besides three theological schools with thirty-one students, there are thirty-three other schools with 2,283 pupils. The chief of these is St. Paul's College in Tokyo. A Church House has been opened in Tokyo to be a centre of Christian work among the two thou- sand of the University. St. Luke's Hospital in Tokyo, under Dr. E. A Large B. Teusler, is one of the largest institutions of osp ta the Episcopalian Church and because of its cen- tral location is able to do an extensive work. Foreigners as well as Japanese are cared for. A staff of native assistants and nurses is being trained. Upon the outbreak of the war with Eussia, Bishop McKim and Dr. Teusler offered the use of the hospital to the Japanese Gov- ernment for the sick and wounded of both armies. Out of the fourteen hospitals and dispensaries belonging to all the Protestant missions, the Episcopalians have seven. They have a publishing department, and Publications advertise 130 titles of books and tracts. In philanthropic labours, they are not lacking, for they have six orphanages and homes for the aged and unfortunate. Methodist Forces. There are six Methodist societies in Japan ; Union and since the spirit of union is so wide-spread, Ex P ected it is expected that in the near future they will 172 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom form one organization similar to those of the three Episcopal societies and the six Presby- terian missions. Indeed, already a joint com- mittee has drawn up a basis of union. These six societies are as follows : The Methodist Episcopal Church (1873), The Methodist Church of Canada (1873), The Evan- gelical Association (1876), The Methodist Prot- estant Church (1880), The Methodist Episcopal Church, South (1886), and the United Brethren in Christ (1895). Status of The following table will best show what this group of missions is doing : 1 ,§i Schools, Pupils, •1 .§ - 1 £ 8 a « s -5 .« £ 2 2! s © j?> 5- S 5 ~ 3« S j I* 5 <5 3 I M. E. 72 63 6,548 18,757 2 7 638 912 M. C. C. 34 26 2,675 5,803 3 380 E. A. 6 15 1,025 1,511 M. P. 20 14 619 924 11 90 73 M. E. S. 40 6 864 2,869 1 1 123 266 U. B. C. 6 9 130 147 Six Societies Total 178 133 11,861 30,011 4 12 1,031 1,631 Japanese in Leaving for the moment these churches in California Japan and the devoted missionaries who have fostered them, we can get an excellent picture of the reflex influence of mission work by looking at what Dr. M. C. Harris, of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church mission force, has done in California. Forced to leave Japan Honoured The Forces at Work 173 on account of his wife's health, he was providentially called to be Superintendent of the Pacific Japanese Mission in San Francisco. " His long experience in Japan and his intense love for the Japanese eminently fitted him for the duties and responsibilities of his new position. He organized a flourishing Gospel Society and a vigorous church, and has erected a substantial mission building in San Francisco. Hundreds of Japanese have been converted, and a large number of young men trained for Christian work." Dr. Harris successfully Dr. Harris protested against the exclusion of Japanese from the public schools of San Francisco, and when he again visited Japan prominent Chris- tians petitioned the Government to recognize his long and unselfish work for the Japanese in a foreign land, with the result that the Decoration of the Imperial Order of the Sacred Treasure, Fourth Degree, was con- ferred upon him. When next he visited the Far East, which he so loves, his Japanese friends in California paid all his expenses, and in Japan, " wherever he went, ovations and re- ceptions awaited him. All classes, Christian and non-Christian, rose up to do him honour. Governors, mayors, college presidents, pro- fessors, teachers and influential citizens, vied with each other in their attentions. When- ever he spoke or preached, large, interested and 174 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom enthusiastic audiences greeted him ; on his leaving for America, a ' Harris Association ' was formed in his honour." In 1904 he be- came Missionary Bishop of Japan. Educational In school work, the Methodists have the or well-known Aoyarna Gakuin and the Ladies' Seminary on a fine plot of twenty-five acres in Tokyo; The Toyo Eiwa Gakuin (The English and Japanese Institute of the East) in Azabu, another district of the Capital; and the Kwansoi Gakuin (Southwestern College) in Kobe; all three colleges having theological departments. While the number of theolog- ical students is exceptionally small at this time, being only twenty, the tide is rising, and these figures will soon be largely increased. Besides these are the Bible Women's Training School in Yokohama, and various other schools, which together educate and train 2,662 pupils. La J« e The Methodist Publishing House is one of House the notable features of Christian work in Tokyo, and is virtually the only mission pub- lishing house in Japan. The plant consists of a printing house employing fifty men, women, and girls, and a bookstore and office on Ginza, the Broadway of Tokyo. The Japa- nese Evangelist, an undenominational maga- zine, is published there. The sales for 1902 were of the value of 27,814 yen, and 75,000 The Forces at Work 175 tracts and 30,000 books amounting to 12,000,- 000 pages were printed. While Methodist Christians are doing some- For thing for orphans and for the sick poor, JjJpu^Jy 6 sociological work has mainly been along the lines of temperance and purity. Dr. Soper may be fitly called the Apostle of Temper- ance, and Mr. Murphy's agitations have helped to gain liberty for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of girls held in the worst form of slavery. Presbyterian Forces. The first Protestant church organized in First Japan was the Presbyterian church in Yoko- church^ hama. Discarding the name Presbyterian, it took simply the name " Church of Christ," and following their example, the various Pres- byterian missions, when they consummated their union, adopted the name " The Church of Christ in Japan," (Nippon Kirisuto Kyokwai). These six missions, together with the Woman's Union Missionary Society, consti- tute the " Council of Missions " that cooperates with " The Church of Christ in Japan." The following are the names of the various Presbyterian churches in Japan with the dates of their arrival : Presbyterian Church in the United States, North (1859), Eeformed Church in America (1859), Woman's United Mission- 176 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom ary Society (1871), and the United Presby- Unlon terian Church of Scotland (1874). The union Consummated of thege four bodieg wag formed in 18 ^ and the consequent joy was intensified by the ordination of the first pastors of the church, three in number, one of whom is the aged Okuno Masatsuna, whose venerable figure is known in all the churches of the Empire. At this time there were 623 Christians and twenty- five students studying for the ministry. The other three missionary societies arriving later soon caught the spirit of union, and heartily entered the Council : Cumberland Presbyterian Church (1877), Reformed Church in the United States (1879), and the Presbyterian Church in the United States (1886). Resulting How much better for Japan, and indeed for Strength the universal c hurch of Christ that these missions were led to this early union. Instead of these various foreign names that have no historic significance whatever to Japan, there is now one strong Nippon Kirisuto Kyokwai, with 153 missionaries (including wives) oc- cupying the thirty-eight stations and 234 out- stations, with 141 pastors and evangelists and 11,651 Christians whose annual contributions reach 37,180 yen. In the five Presbyteries extending from Hokkaido to Formosa, twenty- three churches out of seventy-one are self-sup- porting. This independent spirit manifests The Forces at Work. 177 itself also in the zeal with which the Japanese have organized their own independent mis- sionary society, whose budget is about 7,000 yen. The real life of this Church can be fairly Formosa estimated from one interesting piece of work ait ng being carried on by its missionary society in Formosa. There are about 35,000 Japanese in that island, and among them are many Christians, some of whom invited Rev. M. Uemura to come from Tokyo to organize them into a church, they paying the expenses of his long journey. Mr. Uemura was warmly welcomed here and there, and in one place the Christians would not let him go without a promise to send them a pastor for whose sup- port they pledged twenty yen a month. Another group offered to pay ten yen a month for an evangelist. A Christian captain gathered his men to hear Mr. Uemura preach. The missionary's story of his journey reads "like a chapter in Acts." Everywhere men were ready to listen to him and wherever he went he found Christians. Even on the tree- less Pescadores he found a little company. Thus a helping hand is stretched out to Formosa, and a Christian major stationed in China is urging this society to begin work there. As indicating the scope of the educational ij8 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Schools work of the united body, it should be stated Worth While tnat t h ere are i n t he Meiji Gakuin, Tokyo, 170 students, 129 in the Tohoku Gakuin, Sendai, and 100 in the Steele College, Nagasaki. There are three theological schools with twenty-four students, and six Bible Women's Training Schools with sixty-three students. Twelve Girls' Boarding Schools with 948 pupils are found in a line from North to South, in Sapporo, Otaru, Sendai, Kanazawa, Tokyo (2), Nagoya, Osaka (2), Yokohama (2) and Naga- saki. As for day-schools, industrial-schools, night-schools, kindergartens, etc., worthy as is the labour ungrudgingly bestowed, it need only be said here that they all are helping on the coming of the Kingdom in the lives of the young. Indeed, this whole educational work, to which fifty missionaries give their strength, and for the support of which the home churches contribute $52,000, is a constant in- spiration to the churches in Japan, and no one can estimate the beneficial effect exercised upon the community in general. Standard Among Christian books published by Pres- Books byterians, "The Life of Christ," by Dr. Williams Tmbrie holds a prominent place. Eev. M. Uemura's " Survey of the Truth " is a standard work. Nicoll's "The Incarnate Saviour" has been translated by Professor Kashiwai and a telling " Life of Livingstone " The Forces at Work 179 has been compiled by Professors Morimoto and Arishima. With the aid of tracts, maga- zines, commentaries, and other publications, the united church has sent the words of truth and love far and wide. The medical work, which in the early days Lepers was such a power for good under Dr. Hep- Ba P tized burn, is no longer emphasized ; and philan- thropic effort is given mainly to industrial schools and personal forms of service. I must mention, however, Miss Youngman's Leper Hospital. Nobody knows how many lepers there are in Japan. It is certain that there are over 30,000 and perhaps there are twice that number, since many conceal their diseased condition, and the government does not pub- lish statistics. Miss Youngman has forty of these unfortunates in her Tokyo hospital, and all but six have been baptized in the name of Him who said, " Be thou clean." Ten of these lepers were baptized at one time. Miss Young- man says : " We never have room for all that apply. In fact many more would apply if they dared, but applying to us means register- ing their names as lepers, and this brings their families into disrepute. For instance, a leper woman is now wandering about Yokohama. She was four years in the Roman Catholic hospital at Koyama. She was then required to register, and she said she could not do it as i8o Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom her sister was happily married and had two children ; she feared that if her sister's hus- band knew of the sister's condition that he would turn out both mother and children." In Home I was once invited to the home of a leper of of a Leper means whom I had baptized. I ate and slept in his hospitable home and performed the marriage ceremony for his adopted children. I learned much from the life of this pure- hearted and loving Christian, and when after fifteen years of a living death he was called above, his funeral was attended by crowds who loved the man whose courage and Christian hope this terrible disease could not conquer. Other Protestant Evangelical Forces. II 1 1. Church of Christ, 1884 842 20 2. Society of Friends, 1885 300 7 3. German Evangelistic Prot- estant Mission, 1885 179 6 4. American Christian Con- vention, 1887 382 6 5. Scandinavian Japanese Al- liance, 1891 200 11 6. Christian and Missionary Alliance, 1891 52 3 7. Evangelical Lutheran, 1892 133 9 8. Bephzibah Faith, 1894 4 9, Danish Evangelical Luth- eran, 1898 4 The Forces at Work 181 The four societies coming in the " eighties " Ebb and Flow arrived at the height of successes, when thou- sands were being added to the churches, and rejoiced in gains three times as large as the other seven societies that came when the oppo- sition to everything foreign was the bitterest and the gains in the churches were at their lowest ebb. It is safe to affirm that no new mission could have gained any large success in the " nineties." Not many of the older and better organized missions made any note- worthy progress during that decade. No disappointment need be felt at the ap- parently small number of converts. Indeed, it is large when we consider all the circum- stances. Many of the conversions reported have cost bitter struggles, and came only in answer to prayer that has brought the sustain- ing power needed by the native Christian. It is too early to look for many self-supporting churches among them. A brief summary will be given of the work of each of these smaller churches. The Church of Christ. Its missionaries are known because of their efficient use of the Japanese language and for Masters of ability in acceptable preaching. They them- ^^> m %^ selves, however, say : "Our work has been retarded because of lack of schools for evan- 182 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom gelists and Bible women." Ex-Governor Drake, of Iowa, has generously contributed the larger part of the $20,000 they have secured for a theological school. The land has already been purchased in Tokyo ; and, under the inspiration of this advance, they are call- ing for more missionaries, and urging forward a Bible woman's school in Osaka. The Society of Friends. These workers, for the most part, devote Quiet Sowers themselves to evangelistic work, scattering the of Seed g 00C i seec i lovingly and without ostentation. They are also active in temperance work, in work for women, and in a small girls' school in Tokyo. Dr. Whitney's hospital work, the Railway Mission, and the Postal and Telegraph Mission are the work of independent Friends. The German Evangelistic Protestant Mis- sion. Its headquarters are in Tokyo, where its Scholarly publication work has attracted much attention Literature Decause f j^s scholarly and progressive methods. "Is there a God?" "Modern Christianity and Miracles," "What think ye of Christ?" together with a monthly magazine find proportionately a large number of readers. To this German Mission is due the publication of the first comprehensive History of Protes- The Forces at Work 183 tant Missions in Japan both in German and English. They have a theological school with five students, a school for poor children, an in- dustrial school for girls and an evening school. The American Christian Convention. It carries on a distinctively evangelistic work Earnest in Tokyo, and in the North with Sendai as its Evan s e,ists base. The earnest work of the missionaries and their self-denying helpers has its reward in an unusual rate of growth in late years. The Scandinavian Alliance Mission. The founder of this mission, the Eev. F. Fran- a Successful son, is a most devoted worker, and supervises Reviva,i8t the work of several scores of missionaries in different parts of the world. He recently travelled through Japan, where his revival work has been welcomed by many churches. His broad purpose is not so much to found a denominational church as to preach the saving Gospel of Christ as widely as possible. The Christian and Missionary Alliance. This was begun by Dr. T. W. Gulick in « Christ Southern Japan. "Its only object is to lead Crucitied " souls to Christ by preaching the Gospel." It is a wonderful work of grace that this mission should gain in one year forty converts. 184 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom The Evangelical Lutheran Mission. Schools These missionaries work only in Kyushu pene with headquarters at Saga. Three years ago they said : " The methods of this mission are purely evangelistic, no educational work being done except the training of evangelists," But recently a kindergarten has been opened which promises success. It may be added that the author of " The Gist of Japan," Eev. P. B. Peery, is a member of this mission. The Dan- ish Evangelical Mission (No. 11) cooperates with this. " One Thing The Hephzibah Faith Mission is not for de- nominational work. " Its aim is to bring un- believers to a knowledge of the truth and be- lievers into the experience of sanctification." Won- Protestant Forces. There are two large missions at work in Japan with success, and we must not overlook them on the ground that they are not Protes- tants. One of these is The Roman Catholic Mission. Just as soon as foreigners were permitted to Large enter Japan, the work of this Church was re- Membership newed with zeaL There are now 115 EurQ pean priests and thirty-two Japanese who have received ordination. The whole number of The Forces at Work lSj adherents is 57,195. If one asks why there are so few native priests over these 217 churches and chapels, the reply is : " The necessity of celibacy makes ordination much more difficult for Japanese Roman Catholics than for Chris- tians of other denominations. Indeed, ordina- tion is very seldom permitted except in the case of natives whose families have been Chris- tians for at least three generations." Forty of these missionaries (men) and 120 Growth of women are devoted to various forms of educa- Sch ° o18 tional work. They have three higher boys' schools with 517 students, eighteen primary schools for boys and twenty-two for girls with 790 boys and 3,974 girls. Besides these, there are three theological seminaries with forty- seven students. The benevolent work of this mission is one Qiven to of its marked characteristics, and is often Charity praised in the press of Japan. They have nineteen orphanages with 1,512 children. " Their medical activity is represented by four- teen dispensaries." Some of their men have gained a wide reputation for their able literary work. The Russian (Greek) Church. The unique success of this large mission is Power of due mainly to the work of one man, Bishop 0ne Man Nicolai. He was one of the earliest mission- 186 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom aries to Japan ; or, to speak more accurately, he was the chaplain of the Russian Legation. He is mentioned especially because of his ex- ceptional success ; and it is not without inter- est, that, while Neesima was plotting to get away to America, he was teaching this Rus- sian Japanese in Hakodate. This one man has trained his evangelists and sent them all over Japan where they have organized 260 churches, rarely visited by the Bishop. They number 27,501 members and have 173 church build- ings. Of the cost of this wholesale work of evangelization, the Christians raise only about one-tenth. The theological seminary with its one hundred students is the most important of the educational institutions of the Greek Church. There are also two girls' schools which have about the same number of pupils. Questions foe Study Aim — To study the work of your own denomination and note the most striking features of that of other denomina- tions. Answers to these questions may be obtained from literature furnished by your Board. 1. When did the work of your own denomination be- gin in Japan ? 2. Who were your first missionaries and where were they sent ? 3. Describe fully the circumstances under which they began their work. The Forces at Work 187 4. What were the principal difficulties that they met ? 5. When and under what circumstances was the first native church founded by your missionaries ? 6. At what other stations has your Board opened stations ? 7. Name any striking circumstances connected with the opening of these stations. 8. What additional work is your Board doing ? 9. Describe in detail one of its schools or colleges and the circumstances connected with its founding. 10. What other work of your Board do you consider most worthy of mention ? 1 1 . Describe somewhat in detail the present state of a native church founded by your Board. 12. What are the most notable activities of the whole native church that your Board founded? 13. Describe fully some recent striking events connected with the work of your Board. 14. What are the present figures of the work of your Board in Japan ? 15. What has been the growth of the last year? 16. Note carefully the work of the other denominations and select the five points in connection with them that seem to you most worthy of study. 17. What do you consider the three greatest needs of missions in Japan at present ? 18. What do you understand to be the aim of foreign missions ? References : Ritter : History of Protestant Missions in Japan, sec- tions in each division and in the supplementary chapter. Peery : Gist of Japan, ch. X. Literature published by your board. 188 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Subjects for Papers or Talks : i. Facts of interest connected with the beginning of your Board in Japan. 2. How does your Board of foreign missions do its work ? Write to your Board for literature and make use also of denominational magazines. 3. Problems connected with organizing the native Church. Gordon : An American Missionary in Japan, chs. IV, XI, XII. Peery : Ch. XV. YIII THE OUTLOOK The Reaction. It would not be right to give the impression that missions are an unqualified success in jfSjJP": ln , Japan. There have indeed been amazing tri- umphs in the face of great difficulties, and a degree of success in every department of work, for which all Christians should truly be thank- ful. Yet an apparently great disaster befell the whole work about 1890, and the hearts of the missionaries were saddened and the churches at home were perplexed. The num- ber of yearly Protestant baptisms suddenly decreased fifty per cent. The churches that had been doubling in membership every three years in the "eighties" have not only not doubled in the last decade, they have increased scarcely fifty per cent, although the missionary force is one-half greater and the workers are better equipped for service. The number of converts scarcely keeps pace with the losses which some of the churches suffer annually. There is nothing to conceal and nothing to 189 190 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Meaning of extenuate. We want our set-backs and fail- eac ion U] , eg tQ ^ e ag we ]_]_.] £nown as our successes. The year 1889 witnessed a gain of 5,677 con- verts, but then came a drop in a single year to an increase of only 1,199. In 1S91 the Pres- byterian group gloried in their rapidly grow- ing church of 10,961 members, and the Con- gregationalists likewise exulted over their 10,- 760. The statistics of 1902 showed that the former had increased to 11,651 only and the latter to 11,548. In the Sendai field, there were 407 Congregational Christians enrolled by the end of 1892, but ten years later there were only 325, although there had been over 200 baptisms. These are rather extreme cases, but they will all the better reveal what that dread word " Keaction " means. Some Causes Among the contributory causes of the falling off, the following were most influential : 1. The eager adoption of everything for- eign by the Japanese reached its height in Craze for the " eighties." Christianity was one of these Things f° r 6ign things that then began to be pop- ular. It was the style not only to eat and drink and to be clothed like foreigners, but it was advocated in the ablest paper in Japan that it would be a good thing for the people to become baptized and join the church. The idea was that if Japan should rapidly become Chris- tian even nominally, treaty revision would be The Outlook 191 much more easily obtained, and Japan would become the political equal of the nations of the "West — a thing most intensely desired by the whole nation. This political inequality, that Ambition for put Japan in the same class with Turkey and gjJJJjjj! Egypt, was keenly felt. The Japanese wanted to have all foreigners placed under Japanese laws and courts, but "Western powers refused, thus to trust Japan until secret trial by torture was abolished, open courts of justice estab- lished, and equal rights given to the people. Since such reforms would take many years to accomplish, it was little to be wondered at that a reaction against foreigners set in, and Change of that their mood should swiftly change into dis- D e like of everything foreign. Christianity thus became one of the things to be swept out of the country. There followed a social persecu- tion hard for the native Christians to endure, and hence thousands no more went to church. 2. Multitudes had become church members superficial without sufficient instruction and without a Growth spiritual renewal. " Let's have a hundred baptized in our church before New Year," said an enthusiastic Japanese Christian in October. And they were lined up by the score at every baptismal service and solemnly received. That church lost more than a hundred when the reaction struck the nation. This is not an absolute loss, for a dozen or a 192 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom score of theni will be recovered to the church on a far better understanding of devotion to Christ, and most of the others remain friendly to the church and will contribute on special occasions for religious purposes. 3. The new philosophical, historical, and influx of religious knowledge, that passes under the Criticism name °f " higher criticism," came like a wave over the young Christian community, on which it had the same effect as in the West. It was a world movement in Christian thought, and that a people eager for knowledge should have been unable to harmonize the new forms of truth with the old should not occasion any great surprise. Nor is it unnatural that many thoughtful men should have felt the church to be too narrow in its sphere of usefulness, and too weak in its organization to do much for Japan. Many of these men have since risen to high positions of social and official influence, and though they do not attend church, they are often very sympathetic toward Christian work and frequently give it generous financial support. High Moral 4. Of course there were not a few who Standards i ove{ ] th e liberty of certain social customs that no Christian church would permit, and the little churches unhesitatingly removed the names of offenders from their rolls. The 50,000 church members of to-day are morally The Outlook 193 and spiritually in a much better condition than were the 35,000 of ten years ago. This trying reaction has not been without church its good effects. It sifted the chaff from the Purified wheat. " Will ye also go away ? " was the sad question heard on every side. But the large majority knew in their deepest hearts that no one had the words of eternal life save Christ, and with a clearer and deeper faith they made large sacrifices and remained at their posts. The churches of Christ have now passed one severe crisis, and are rooted and grounded in the faith that conquers the world. A new study of the Bible has given pastors, evangelists, and other leading Christians a power of endurance and courage and influence they might not otherwise have gained. The Forward Movement. In spite of the ten years of reaction, the Japanese Christians felt a divine impulse to make the Initiative beginning of the twentieth century the oc- casion of an earnest advance movement in which apologetics should give place to a direct and forceful presentation of the simple gospel of salvation through Christ. Leading Japa- nese Christians called the missionaries to join them in this new movement. The first for- ward step was taken by the Japanese Evangel- ical Alliance, which voted to raise 5,000 yen 194 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom for the purpose. The gathering at Tokyo of 450 missionaries into a General Conference, October, 1900, afforded the Japanese the op- portunity to invite their cooperation, and the request was most heartily complied with. A joint committee was appointed and the empire was divided into sixteen districts, with local committees to organize and direct the move- ment. Thorough The work was signally blessed. What was Plans done in the great capital will give some indi- cation of the nature and scope of the work. The city was divided into five districts. Fifty-one churches, sixty-two pastors and evangelists, and twelve missionaries united for six weeks in daily meetings for the uncon- verted. Three hundred and sixty persons formed twenty-seven bands of workers, who marched through the streets with banners and lanterns, singing to the tune of "Marching Through Georgia," an inspiring hymn of Christian warfare. Half a million hand-bills were distributed, and 310,000 tracts were given away. Over 5,000 "Seekers of the Way " handed in their names. Power of I n Senclai the churches hired a theatre, the Music best in the place, holding 2,000, and never be- fore in a Japanese theatre was heard a chorus of 100 Christian young men and women (ac- companied by piano, organ, and violins), sing- The Outlook 195 ing gospel hymns. Christian music for the first time began to attract serious attention from outsiders. " You have a great advan- tage in your music," said a thoughtful teacher. " It cleans out the heart, and then you sow the good seed." A band of singers was formed that accompanied the speakers into another province. It was not exceptional to have a hundred or more names of inquirers handed in at some of the meetings. As news of these meetings spread to the towns and cities of the interior, the Christians everywhere echoed the Macedonian's cry, Provided " Come over and help us." They gave money as never before, and made strenuous efforts to arouse the communities. Providentially, such men as Dr. Harris of San Francisco, Mr. J. E. Mott, and Dr. K. A. Torrey, came just in time to witness this movement and to stimulate it by their inspiring messages. The readiness of the people to hear, and their eager acceptance of the message, was such, that Dr. Torrey said : " This land is ripe for the great harvest." The influence of this revival was felt even in the conservative Imperial Uni- versity, where for the first time in its history a distinctively Christian worker, Mr. Mott, was invited to speak. This " Taikyo Dendo," as the movement was called, brought joy and stimulus to the 196 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Quickened whole church of Japan. Hundreds of those Faith w ] 10se faith i ia d De811 weakened returned to their allegiance, and hundreds of conversions of conspicuously wicked men and women took place. The movement astonished the general public who thought that Christianity was about dead, and startled, no one knows how many thousands, into a serious considera- tion of the claims of Christ to be the Saviour of the world. Organized opposition was broken down, the scornful were converted or made ashamed, and hosts of friends were won for Christianity who themselves have not entered the church, but who are willing that their wives and children should be open Christians. This movement brought such fresh en- thusiasm and hope to the whole Christian body, missionaries and churches alike, that they were not content with the original plan to limit the special work to the opening year of the century, and so it has been continued in one form or another ever since. The National Exposition at Osaka (1903) had before its gates a Christian preaching place where the various missions took their turns at daily and nightly preaching, and where the Christian invitation in huge letters was on the roof of the building — " Come and See." This could not have been achieved but for the new cour- Greater Things Attempted The Outlook 197 age born of the Forward Movement. Dr. Charles Cuthbert Hall's unique welcome at Senclai, where the non-Christian ladies and gentlemen of the city entertained him, fitting up the hall of the Government College for these Christian lectures, would have been im- possible but for this great movement. Mr. Mott's splendid record of 1,467 inquirers in seven cities was, to a large degree, made pos- sible by this same " Taikyo Dendo." Heretofore, all revival work had been com- Of National paratively local, but the Forward Movement Scope was national in its scope and out of forty-five provinces forty-two were reached. It or- ganized an interdenominational band of 536 workers. It raised an army of 15,440 in- quirers. Though only 5,000 yen were at first called for, 10,743 yen were contributed. Dr. Imbrie well says : " This movement has greatly revived the interest of Christian peo- ple of the United States and England in the evangelization of Japan, and has supplied new courage for the evangelization of the world." Denominational Cooperation. That mission work in Japan has tended to- spirit of Unity ward a union of different societies is seen in the formation of the Presbyterian federation already described. There was in the "eight- ies " an attempt on the part of the Congre- 198 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom gationalists and Presbyterians to form one united work in Japan, but misunderstandings in the United States, together with the op- position of a few persons in Japan, prevented the success of the effort. But at the Tokyo Conference in 1900, the spirit of oneness came upon the missionaries assembled, and all were led to reecho with deeper earnestness than ever before the Master's prayer : " That they all may be one." A committee of eighteen was formed, called the Standing Committee of Co- operating Missions in Japan, whose duties are to foster all possible cooperation, to give counsel with regard to the distribution of forces, to prevent misunderstandings, and to promote harmony. Prayer for The only large mission not represented on Unity th e committee is the Episcopalian. That body's desire for union is evidenced by the action of the bishops who " urge the use in public worship, at least on Sundays, of that prayer for unity which is contained in the Prayer-book." Bishop Fyson truly says : " God has set before us in this land an open door for reunion, such as cannot be found elsewhere in all the world. It is our privilege and duty to enter this open door, and to seize upon every opportunity that presents itself for forwarding this movement." After the Tokyo Conference, the mission- The Outlook 199 aries of Central Japan sent out a call to all the Christians in the country to labour with prayer for Christian union. The prayer so widely used is reproduced here in the hope that all who read it will join in its fervent use: " Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who Suggested hast purchased an universal Church by the JjJ™ ° f precious blood of Thy Son, we thank Thee that Thou hast called us into the same, and made us members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven. Look now we beseech Thee upon Thy Church, and take from it division and strife and whatsoever hinders Godly union and concord. Fill us with Thy love, and guide us by Thy Holy Spirit that we may attain to that oneness for which Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, prayed on the night of His betrayal, who with Thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, world without end. Amen." Prominent mis- sionaries of Tokyo endorsed this Call for prayer, and invited its adoption by all. It will thus be seen that the various missions union in Japan have begun this century with a bap- Hymn-Book tism of the spirit of union far surpassing any- thing heretofore witnessed. Twenty-two de- nominations joined in active work in the Forward Movement. This Christian fellow- ship called for a union hymn book, so that 200 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Christians meeting in a church other than their own might sing the same songs of Zion. " When Will Japan Become a Christian Nation?" Not la a Day "We missionaries who saw the enthusiasm and rapid gains of the " eighties " thought that we were about to witness the fulfillment on a grand scale of the ancient words : " A nation born in a day." It really seemed to many of us that only one generation of missionaries would be necessary to do the foreigner's share in the work of evangelization. Then came the reaction. The number of converts not only ceased to double every three years, but thousands of church members left the churches. A daily newspaper, comment- ing on the set-back, said : " Nothing is left of Christianity save an insignificant Sunday- school work. There is really no power in Christianity. The churches are mostly empty." After the reaction, nothing more was heard about finishing missionary work in one gen- eration. Living The opening century came with the Forward Needed Movement, begun in weakness and doubt and fear and prayer. It suddenly became abun- dantly evident that the people were willing to hear, provided that the speakers had a living message. The Outlook 20 1 Personal Saviour, the Son of God who came to redeem all men, — these truths, through the Holy Spirit, took possession of the preachers, and the churches awoke. The newspapers then had to admit that there was power in Christianity after all. To-day the Christians are hopeful, the missionaries are working with joy, everywhere inspiring triumphs of the Cross are being recorded daily. One of the Christian weekly magazines, not « within this conducted by missionaries, recently quoted Dr. Century " Arthur H. Smith, of China, as saying that it took eight hundred years to make England a Christian nation, and that it would take about as long to convert China. Then the writer adds : " The dream of fifteen years ago that it would take only ten years for Japan to be- come Christian is passed away forever. . . . If the faith of the first century fills us all, Japan will be a Christian nation within this century." And the article closes with the very proper statement that nothing but a na- Native Church tive church, self-supporting and aggressive, can Essential do the work. Foreigners can aid in laying the foundations of Christian institutions, but the great work of converting the nation can be done only by Japanese. The same paper, The Maishit, in another issue, said : " If we ex- amine the past, we see that evangelization at first was largely an intellectual presentation of 202 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom the truths, the Existence of God, Man's guilt, Christ the Saviour, and Eternal Life. Great success attended this earnest work. The sec- ond stage was emphasizing the ethical side of Christianity, on the platform, in the pulpit, and in the press. And our people were greatly uplifted by this work. Now we are enter- ing the third stage when a great harvest is to be expected from the seed so widely sown. . , And the need now is for spiritual work, by Work most those who have consecrated body and soul to Needed Q nr j s k What we have already seen is, in spite of defects, a wonderful success in the conversion of thousands, in a great awakening of the zeal of Christians, in churches filled, and, in short, in revolutionizing our evangeliz- ing spirit. It is most fitting to give thanks to the Great God who has used us, unworthy in- struments, and has enriched us by His grace. We must now receive more of this wonderful spiritual power and go forward to a larger work." Key to China The Tokyo Convention of 450 missionaries deeply felt that the missionary body should be rapidly strengthened, for the conversion of Japan means the far more rapid conversion of the 400,000,000 of the great Chinese Empire just beyond. The 42,835 Protestant Christians in Japan do not much more than begin to represent the successes of Christianity. Let it The Outlook 203 never be forgotten that our Lord said that His Kingdom does not come with observation. It is a leaven quietly entering the national life. "When we consider that the Government of Challenge of Japan, the laws, the courts, education, and the °PP° rtunit y family are being formed on Christian principles that recognize the worth and dignity of every man, woman and child ; that the worship of sun and moon has virtually ceased ; that the grosser forms of idolatry have been abandoned ; that the moral teachings of Christ have become a part of the ethical treasures of the people ; that the " friends of Christianity " number far more than its open professors ; that Christian thought has affected the old religions to a re- markable extent ; we need not hesitate to say, that, in spite of the traces of heathenism that remain, no other nation has ever been so rapidly permeated with Christian knowledge as has Japan. There never has been in all the history of missions so great a victory for Christ in so short a time as we see to-day in that beautiful island Empire. There never was a non-Christian nation so open-minded and re- ceptive as Japan. And if Christianity cannot win this great people to Christ, then either Christianity is a failure as a universal religion, or those who are entrusted with this divine message have not yet learned what to do with it. 204 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Notwithstanding the difficulties and discour- agements of the past, in the face of present-day opportunity, we can well say with the Psalmist of olden time : Give thanks unto the Lord ! declare His doings among the peoples ! make mention that hls name is exalted ! Questions for Study Aim.— To estimate the present situation in Japan and our responsibility. 1. Give five reasons why the growth of the native church in any mission field should become more rapid as time goes on. 2. Name five ordinary causes of reaction. 3. What was there in the reaction in Japan that was peculiar ? 4. Was the great wave of popularity on the whole a gain or a loss, and why ? 5. Was the reaction on the whole a gain or a loss, and why? 6. Name the five most important causes leading to the success of the forward movement in the order of their importance. 7. What do you consider to be the three most impor- tant results of the movement ? 8. What elements of the movement can best be made permanent ? g s What are three practical reasons for the exist- The Outlook ±0$ ence of such a committee as the Committee of Cooperation ? io. Give illustrations of circumstances in which such a committee might be needed. 11. Are the missionaries of Japan ahead of the Church at home or behind it in their spirit of unity ? Make in writing : 12. A brief summary of what Christianity has done for Japan. 13. The strongest statement that you feel to be justified of the importance of the evangelization of Japan. 14. The statement of what you feel to be your responsi- bility for the evangelization of Japan and how you mean to discharge it. References : Carey : Japan and its Regeneration, ch. XI. Peery : Gist- of Japan, ch. XVI. Gordon : An American Missionary in Japan, chs. XIX-XXI. Clement : Handbook of Modern Japan, chs. XIX- XXI. Newton : Japan : Country, Court and People, pt. Ill, chs. Ill, V. Griffis: The Mikado's Empire, supplementary chap- ters since 1890. Chamberlain : Things Japanese, article : Missions, sec. 5. Gulick : Evolution of the Japanese, chs. XIV, XXIII. Ritter : History of Protestant Missions in Japan, sup- plementary chapter. Beach : Geography of Protestant Missions, pt. II, ch. IX. Report of the Toronto Convention, pp. 381, following. Bacon : Japanese Girls and Women, ch. XIII. 206 Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom Subjects for Papers or Talks : 1. Details of the forward movement. Report of the Toronto Convention, pp. 390-393. Missionary Review of the World, September, 1 901 ; September, 1902. 2. The causes of the anti-foreign feeling in Japan during the last decade of the nineteenth cen- tury. Cary : pp. 93-98. Newton : pp. 391-401. Gulick : ch. XIV. Gordon: An American Missionary in Japan, ch. XXI. 3. The outlook. Cary : ch. XI. Peery : ch. XVI. Bacon : ch. XIII. Newton : pt. Ill, ch. V. Clement : chs. XIX-XXI. APPENDIX A The suggestions on the use of the questions at the end of each chapter, together with the questions themselves and the appendixes A, C, and D have been prepared by Dr. T. H. P. Sailer, Editorial Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church, North. SOME SUGGESTIONS AS TO HOW TO STUDY THE TEXT-BOOK In the first place, do not attempt to memor- ize the entire chapter. Such a process is necessary with the multiplication table, where every fact is important and every fact of equal worth. In each chapter of this book, how- ever, some facts are of much greater impor- tance than others ; therefore select these and concentrate upon them. Tou are sure to for- get a considerable part of what you study; make every effort to have the principal points stick. In the questions below no attempt has been made to treat every paragraph of the chapter. Much has purposely been omitted. Most students will find it best to study only a part of what is covered by the questions. In any event, it is better to understand thor- 207 2o8 Appendix A oughly and picture vividly a few things rather than to take up many that you will be able only to name. Do not try to swallow more than you can digest. In the second place, in selecting the points that you decide to study, be guided by the closeness of their connection with the main subject-matter of the chapter. Some para- graphs are more or less digressions, and are placed where they are, only because no more suitable place could be found elsewhere. Ex- perience has shown that it is much easier to understand and remember things when they have a close relation to other things in our minds, therefore select only such points for study as can be linked in a logical chain. Two facts in a clear relation to each other can be remembered better than either fact apart from this relation. In the third place, do not attempt merely to memorize anything. If you do not understand a point there is no need of burdening your mind with it. If you do understand it, con- sider carefully its relations— how it affects other things and how other things affect it— and depend upon its associations rather than upon the dead lift of memory to hold it in your mind. Make much use of paper and pencil in your study. When you have selected your princi- Appendix A 209 pal points, write them out so that you can have them all under your eye at once. "Word your own ideas as clearly as possible in writ- ing; this will help you to think much more effectively. When you are answering a ques- tion that calls for a somewhat detailed reply, set down the points that occur to you and spend some time in adding to them ; then note whether two or more may not be combined under one fuller and stronger statement. See that all your points are clearly and forcibly put, and, finally, arrange them in what seems their most logical order. The interest that you will naturally feel in comparing these re- sults with those arrived at by the other mem- bers of the class will give you increased appe- tite for the session. It will pay to make notes of any additional matter that may be brought out in the recitation and to incorporate these in a final arrangement and statement. Review frequently what has been gone over. Many things are confused in our minds or al- together forgotten which would have become both clearly and permanently fixed by a little more reviewing. Even when a thing seems clear at first sight, we cannot be sure that we really understand it until we have allowed it some time to sink in. Conversation on what you have been study- ing will be found a valuable form of review. 2io Appendix A " Kehearse what you have read to some willing and sympathetic listener." General reading on the subject before or during the course will be a great help. Many things in the text-book that would otherwise be misunderstood or unnoticed will thus be- come clear. Begin at once, and what is still more important, continue after the course is over. Let your motto be : Thorough, effective, permanent work. Work carefully, with a defi- nite aim always in mind, in such a way that your results may have some future value. Remember, finally, that the end of this study is not only knowledge, but character; not only self -improvement, but the spread of the Kingdom of God. Seek not so much to know more, as to be different ; not so much to acquire, as to accomplish. Ask yourself fre- quently what meaning the things you study should have for your life, and make them the subject of prayer, resolve and action. APPENDIX B SUGGESTIONS FOR PRONUNCIATION OF JAPANESE WORDS 1 The following general rules will suffice to give approximately the pronunciation of the Japanese words used in this volume. Each syllable ends with a vowel or with the letter n (sometimes changing to m in the mid- dle of a word). A seeming exception is when the system of transliteration gives a doubled consonant in the middle of a word. In that case each letter is pronounced, the first being joined to the preceding vowel. Consonants have nearly the same sound as in English. Ch is pronounced as in child. G is always hard : in some parts of Japan it is pronounced like ng. A as in father. E like ey in they. In some monosyllables, and sometimes at the end of a word, it is shortened so as to be nearly like e in then. Thus the name of one of the prominent cities is pronounced Ko-be rather than Ko-bay. 'From "Japan and its Regeneration." — Rev. Otis Cary. By permission of The Student Volunteer movement. 211 212 Appendix B /as in machine. as in note. TJ like oo in boot. At the end of words of more than one syllable it is often nearly in- audible; and it is frequently elided in the middle of a word. Japanese words are nearly if not quite with- out accent. APPENDIX C IMPORTANT DATES AND EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF JAPAN 660 b. c. Traditional date of the accession of Jimmu Tenno, the First Emperor. 202 A. d. Traditional date of the invasion of Korea by the Empress Jingo. c. 300 A. d. Beginnings of the entrance of Chinese language and learning. c. 550 A. D. First entrance of Buddhism. Increase of Chinese influence. Centralization of authority. Custom of abdication introduced. Mikados become more or less puppets. Keal power in the hands of great families. c. 880-1050 A. d. Supremacy of the Fujiwara family. Rise of great military families, Taira and Minamoto. 1156-1185 A. d. Wars of the " red and white flags " between these. 1185 A. D. Yoritomo becomes Shogun and real ruler of the country. Power continues in the hands of 213 214 Appendix C these military rulers, though dif- ferent families are in the ascendent. 1542 a. d. Portuguese discover Japan. 1549 a. d. Francis Xavier lands in Japan. Kapid spread of Christianity. 1573 a. d. Nobunaga puts end to period of anarchy and obtains control. 1585-1598 a. d. Hideyoshi, the "Napoleon of Japan," persecutes Christianity and invades Korea. 1500-1605 a. d. Ieyasu, third of the great men, defeats rivals, becomes Sho- gun and makes the Shogunate hereditary in the Tokugawa family, with its capital at Yedo. Power becomes strongly centralized and feudalism perfected. A long era of peace, prosperity, and strict se- clusion begins. Chinese literature and Confucian ethics become domi- nant. 1609 a. d. First arrival of the Dutch. 1617-1638 a. d. Christianity persecuted and exterminated. Although closely confined on a small island, the Dutch prove to be the medium of some Western knowledge. Native scholars of the eighteenth century create the beginning of a reaction against Confucianism and the Sho- gunate, and in favour of Shinto and the Mikado. During the first half of the nineteenth century, all at- Appendix C 215 tempts at intercourse by foreigners are repulsed. 1853 A. D. On July 8th, Commodore Perry enters the harbour of Yedo. 1854 A. D. On March 31st, a treaty is signed between the United States and Japan, opening two ports to Ameri- can trade. Treaties with European countries soon follow. The court of the Shogun at Yedo perceives that resistance to the foreigners will be impracticable ; the Mikado and the great southern daimyos are indignant at the admission of the " barbarians." 1859 A. d. The first Christian missionaries enter Japan. The southern clans plot against the Shogun and attack foreigners. Bombardments of two of their ports teach them that they must borrow Western methods. 18G5 A. D. The Mikado ratifies the treaties. 1867 A. D. Mutsuhito becomes Emperor. The Shogun resigns ; his followers protest. 1868 a. D. The Tokugawa forces defeated. The southern clans decide in favour of intercourse with Europe. Be- ginning of the Meiji era. 1869 a. D. Yedo named Tokyo and made capital. The Emperor announces the " Char- ter Oath." 216 Appendix C 1871 A. D. Feudalism abolished. Outcasts admitted to citizenship. 1872 A. D. The first Protestant church founded. 1873 A. d. Removal of anti-Christian edicts. 1883 A. D. Missionary Conference at Osaka. 1889 A. D. Promulgation of the Constitution. 1890 a. d. The First Imperial Diet. 1894-1895 A. d. War with China. 1899 A. d. New treaties take effect. Japan entirely open. 1900 A. d. Japan cooperates with Western powers in the relief of Peking. General Missionary Conference at Tokyo. 1901 A. D. Beginning of the " Forward Movement." 1904 A. D. War with Russia. Gary, chs. Ill, V-VIII, gives an excellent condensed sketch of Japanese history. Cle- ment, chs. VII, VIII, has compact tables of events. Chamberlain, articles: European- ization, History, Missions, Perry, Shogun, etc., is valuable. Griffis, in The Mikado's Empire, and Murray supply the details. Astor's Japa- nese Literature has suggestions of great value scattered through. In the list of dates above, no attempt has been made to catalogue the changes of impor- tance that have marked almost every year of the Meiji era. APPENDIX D BIBLIOGRAPHY Griffis : DuxChristus. (1904.) The MacMillan Co., New York. The text -book for the current year of the Committee for United Study of Missions, representing the Women's Boards of Amer- ica. It has been published too late to be in- cluded in the references at the end of each chapter, but will undoubtedly be found of great value. Griffis : The Mikado's Empire. Tenth edition. 2 vols. (1903.) Harper & Bros., New York. ($4.00.) Perhaps the best single volume for the gen- eral student. The first part contains a some- what detailed account of Japanese history ; the second part, a picture of Japan as seen by the author in 1870-1875. Supplementary chapters bring the history up to date. Griffis: Japan in History, Folk-lore and Art. (1892.) Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. (75 cents.) Written for young people and treating mainly of old Japan. Rein : Japan. (1884.) A. C. Armstrong & Son, New York. ($7.50.) 217 21 8 Appendix D Rein: The Industries of Japan. (1889.^ A.C.Arm- strong & Son. ($10.00.) Recognized by all as of great value, but so full that most persons will use them only for purposes of consultation. Chamberlain : Things Japanese. Fourth edition. (1902.) Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ($4.00.) A series of articles arranged alphabetically, by one of the foremost authorities on Japan. While the author has not attempted to be ex- haustive, he presents a great amount of in- formation in an original and humorous way. The article, " Books on Japan," mentions all the best works on the country, and refer- ences are also found at the end of many of the other articles. Clement: A Handbook of Modern Japan. (1903.) A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago. ($1.40.) A compact and interesting treatment of Japan at the present day, written by one who is in full sympathy with Christian missions. At the end of each chapter is a list of refer- ences. CARY : Japan and its Regeneration. (1899.) Student Volunteer Movement, New York. (50 cents.) Perhaps the best condensed sketch of Japan from the missionary standpoint that has yet been written. A brief, but excellent bibliography is found at the close. Newton: Japan: Country, Court and People. (1900.) Barbee & Smith, Nashville, Tenn. (#1.00.) A general description of the country and Appendix D 219 its history from the earliest times, written by a missionary. Peery : The Gist of Japan. (1897.) Fleming H. Revell Co., New York. ($1.25.) An excellent book with which to arouse interest, as it presents in very readable style the principal features of the country and of missionary work there. Perhaps, difficulties are made a little too prominent. Gordon: An American Missionary in Japan. (1892.) Houghton, Mifflin & Co. ($1.25.) A series of attractive sketches of various phases of missionary life, by one who spent thirty years on the field. Gordon : Thirty Eventful Years in Japan. (1901.) A paper-bound book of 120 pages that may be ordered from the Congregational House, Boston, for twenty-five cents, postpaid. It describes the work of the missionaries of the A. B. C. F. M. during the last thirty years. Gulick: The Evolution of the Japanese. (1903.) Fleming H. Revell Co. ($2.00 net.) A valuable discussion of the causes that have produced Japanese character and so- ciety, offering a great wealth of illustrations on the subject. It will appeal most to those of more mature mind. Bacon : Japanese Girls and Women. Second edition (enlarged, 1902). Houghton, Mifflin & Co. ($4.00. ) Riverside Library edition (7 5 cents). A treatment both clear and full, and written in charming style. 220 Appendix D Griffis Griffis The Religions of Japan. (1895.) Charles Scribner's Sons. ($2.00.) A scholarly book, useful for reference. Verbeck of Japan. (1900.) Fleming H. RevellCo. ($1.50.) Griffis : A Maker of the New Orient (S. R. Brown). (1902.) Fleming H. Revell Co. ($1.25 net.) The lives of two great educational mission- aries who exerted a mighty influence in the transformation of Japan. Hardy : The Life and Letters of Joseph Hardy Neesima. ( 1 89 1 . ) Houghton, Mifflin & Co. ($2.00.) Davis: A Maker of New Japan. (1894.) Fleming H. Revell Co. (Out of print.) Two lives of the foremost Japanese Chris- tians. The former contains fuller personal de- tails, the latter is more readable. Uchimura : The Diary of a Japanese Convert. (1895.) Fleming H. Revell Co. ($1.00.) Records experiences of a band of young Japanese Christians, and impressions of America. Ritter : A History of Protestant Missions in Japan. ( 1 898. ) Methodist Publishing House, Tokyo, Japan. Murray : Japan (Story of the Nations Series). (1894.) G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. ($1.50.) Clement calls this the best single volume on the history of Old Japan. The average student will do well to content himself with not more than half a dozen of the greatest names, and with the most crucial events and periods. Appendix D 221 Van Bergen : A Boy of Old Japan. (1901.) Lee & Shepherd, Boston. ($1.25.) To one who has already some slight knowl- edge of the subject, this book will offer a fascinating picture of the Samurai spirit and of the days preceding the revolution of 1868. Lewis : The Educational Conquest of the Far East. (1903.) Fleming H. Revell Co. ($1.25.) The first part contains the best statement in the English language on the subject of Government education in Japan. Nitobe : Bushido, the Soul of Japan. (1899.) W. H. Leeds, Salem, Oregon. ($1.00.) An enthusiastic setting forth of the prin- ciples of Japanese chivalry, by a native of Japan. Those who wish to pursue the subject farther and have access to libraries are referred to the lists mentioned above in Chamberlain, Clement and Cary. It is gener- ally agreed that the " Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan " are of the first importance for those who wish to do serious work. To such Captain Brinkley's twelve- volume work on Japan and China is to be recommended for reference. All students will find the various missionary magazines, and reports of missionary conferences, such as the Ecu- menical Conference of 1900, and the Toronto Conven- tion of 1902, of great value. W B H < * g 3 g w 222 | pawodajjsaX aannpejaapsj sairBsaadsip JO 'SIB^ldBOH BtreptsXqd 9IDB8 nj sjnapms ni sndna 5 episaa samjuots en I -8]ui ejaqA c to 3 1 uatn pauiupjQ Appendix E Miiiiiiiiiiiigiiiniii -IrH | I N S? |§ ISSS si§s||l|| MINIMI sii'inr II- II I I- I—: l!l§MPIii Mil' lilisiiiiii- S 1255 ISSSsSicsSSS 18 I iSSISS S IS' ISi >S Mt ~S II ; §2; S N I I GO*t» IhHNTKI M l N i; O I ON I iOOOCt*iaiOVi-iNb>0»WU3HCONt*00 i i i -'-«•«'« i i i i i«» i i" i m i r - - :iM»»ObO»»Hl S2*"l M gp : Q a = T3 w S rS £ > D fliP Jl Ira 3 cpJDgSS'E'E'Sg'F.'S'SjS dqSo'a'S'Sl'S'SB afl5as*' !l! Y [,3,,!l 'S" £r? B B B 9, 8 8 8 ■<-<8-*l-<«MB8WB»UfiPM8hPH^Kaga Appendix E 223 II I Tie. II9IIM9 I I 1 1 1 1 1 1- 1 1 1 12 !lllis s i I 1 1 1 1 1 r^sg 1 | a |||W|| 1 1 1113 r<9 1 — "j^a^S 1 WCO |.H |, I I Him I H "i 1 r I I 11 1 1-1- §8 ! I '"INI' I I' I I I- 111 I inr 53 1 1"$ - 1 £K 5 |S||| SS I I is n S " 11 m«M« pq «s I I I 12 I l M § 1°" I I IS |- I I IS I I 1 I I I IS I I I I I I I I |S II l ffi 3 !§3 I ' is, III 111 !a 1 oof "-a^opg a a £*" ® 3 2 as ooS-o £2 S g a 'isas'sa^ao .2.2 g O-p O^ Ofn III 318*3 I hSb2«". bo J iS "S t "!: 11 1 1 •la -5 •°l -3 ••3.1 -^ g g*S3s°| i P-t OQC S.2 My . S32 ■g OnE -1 rt S^ 5 ■a ^|S 1 i r CO * OCOl . O 3 10 a •a -I>12 § ts-a " m'S M O 1£.l* og rfS li 1- O > < en •< A&fl£ w c <* 9 8 m - as £ '« 8- »r a> •as- 2 ^ 4J O Tft3 N w D.S 3* <% &S3& i*3 Analytical Index CHAPTER I The Country I. Area, II, 12. 1. Extent of country, II. 2. Area compared with known areas, 1 1. 3. Main islands, 1 1, 12. 4. Annexation of Formosa, 1 2. 5. Total number of islands in Empire, 12. II. Physical Features, 12-18. 1. Prevalence of mountains, 12. 2. Volcanic eruptions, 12-14. (1) In past and present, 12, 13. (2) Beneficial results (beauty of scenery, hot springs), 13, 14. (3) Direful results (loss of life), 14. 3. Arable land exposed to tidal waves, 15. 4. Fujiyama, 15, 16. 5. Rivers, 16-18. (1) Direction, 16. (2) Main rivers, 17. (3) Embankment problem, 18. III. Climate, 19-21. 1. In summer, 19. 2. On mountains, 20. 3. In winter, 21. IV. Population, 21-23. 1. Density and increase, 21. 2. Emigration to Hokkaido, 21, 22. 3. Possibilities in Formosa, 22. 4. General emigration, 22. 5. Foreigners in Japan, 22, 23. V. Political Transformation, 23-25. 1. Landing of Commodore Perry, 23, 24. 2. Foreign travel and results, 24. 3. Beginning of Meiji Era, 24, 25. 225 226 Analytical Index VI. Steps in Reorganization, 25-28. 1. Administrative reforms, 25, 26. 2. Tudicial reforms, 26-28. CO Abolition of trial by torture, 26, 27. (2) Granting of religious liberty, 27, 28. VII. Material Advancement, 28-31. 1. Railroads, 28. 2. Telegraphs, 29. 3. Steamships, 29. 4. Coast protection, 29. 5. Navy, 30. 6. Manufactures, 30, 31. CHAPTER II The People I. Origin of Japanese, 39, 4°- . I. Mythological interpretation, 39. 2'. Historical uncertainty, 39, 4°- II. Physical Characteristics, 40, 41. 1. Height and weight, 40, 41. 2. Hardihood, 41. III. General Social Conditions, 41-43- 1 . Classes of society, 4 l > 4?- 2. Modern democratic spirit, 42. 3. Influence of Samurai, 42, 43. IV. Family Life, 43-49- 1. Marriage customs, 43~45- , 2. Importance of family line, 45> 4* 3. Care of children, 46. 4. Filial piety, 46, 47- 5. Position of woman, 47-49- V. Houses, 49, 50. VI. Food and Cost of Living, 50, 51. VII. Clothing, 51. VIII. Amusements, 51, 52. IX. Language, 52-54- X. Literature, 54, 55* 1. Ancient, 54. 2. Modern, 55. ] Analytical Index 227 XI. Education, 55. 1. Influence of West, 55, 56. 2. Government education, 56, 57. 3. Private schools, 57. XII. Main Characteristics of Japanese, 49, 59-61. 1. Open-mindedness, 57-59. 2. Love of morality, 59-61. 3. Filial piety, 49. 4. Loyalty, 49. Conclusion. CHAPTER III. The Religions Introduction, 65, 66. I. Shinto, 66-71. 1. Its age, 66. 2. Ancestor worship, 67, 68. (1) Effect on personal morality, 67. (2) Effect on national life, 67, 68. 3. Nature worship, 68,69. (1) Great number of deities, 68, 69. (2) Superstitions, 69. 4. Reform movement, 69, 70. 5. Religious practices in army, 70. 6. Prophecy of its death, 71. II. Buddhism, 71-79. 1. Its power in East and in Japan, 7 1. 2. Shaka, its central personality, 71, 72. (1) Records of his life, 71. (2) His character, 72. 3. Two kinds of Buddhism, 72, 73, 75-77. (1) For the intellectual, 72. (a) Philosopher's creed, 72, 73. (b) Attitude of scholars, 75-77. (2) For the masses, 73-75. (a) Idolatry, 73. (b) Amida sect, 73, 74. (c) Mercy goddess, 74. (d) Monkey moralists, 74. (e) Mechanical prayers, 74, 75. 4. Reform movements, 77-79. (1) Attitude of priests towards Christianity, 77, 78. (2) Reforms in education, 78. (3) Reforms in methods, 79. 228 Analytical Index III. Confucianism, 79-87. 1. Justified as a religion, 79. 2. " Five Relations," 79-87. (1) " Lord and Retainer," 79-82. (a) Examples of noble lords, 79-8 1. (b) Examples of noble retainers, 81, 82. (2) " Father and Son," 82, 83. (a) Children's duties, 82. (b) Parents' duties, 82, 83. (3) « Husband and Wife," 83-85. (a) Ideas of marriage relations, 83. (b) Position of wife, 84. (c) Decrease in divorces, 84. (d) Growing regard for woman, 84, 85. (4) "Elder and Younger Brother," 85, 86. (5) " Friends," 86, 87. IV. Conclusion, 87-89. 1. Relation to Christianity, 87. 2. Failures of these religions, 87-89. (1) Neglect of masses, 87. (2) Disregard of liberty and rights, 87. (3) Degradation of women, 88. (4) Neglect of children, 88. (5) Ignorance of meaning of sin, 88, 89. (6) Ignorance of God, 89. 3. Statistics, 89. CHAPTER IV The First and Second Coming of Christianity I. First Period, 93-98. 1. Historical survey, 93-96. (1) Work of Xavier, 93. (2) Warlike character of Buddhism, 93. (3) Propagation of Christianity by daimyos, 94. (4) Persecution under Hideyoshi and Ieyasu, 94,95- 2. Certain general statements about period, 95-98. (1) Peril of political Christianity to Japan, 95. (2) Heroism of Christian martyrs, 95-97. (3) Dangers of secret discipleship, 97, 98. (4) Resulting hatred of Christianity, 98. II. Second Period — Modern Missions, 98-108. Introduction. (1) A contrast, 98, 99. Analytical Index 229 (2) Treaty rights, 99. 1. Early obstacles, 100-103. (1) Treaty restrictions, 100. (2) Language difficulties, 100, 102. (3) Influence of certain foreign residents, 102. (4) Sins of Christian nations, 102, 103. 2. Encouragements, 103-105. ( 1 ) Peaceful opening of country, 103, 104. (2) Efficient pioneers, 104. (a) J. C. Hepburn, 104, 105. (b) S. R. Brown, 105. (c) G. F. Verbeck, 105. 3. Some significant results, 105-108. (1) First decade. (a) Recognition of missionaries, 105, 106. (b) Six converts, 106. (2) Second decade. (a) Translation of New Testament, 107. (b) Edict for Sabbath observance, 108-IIO. (3) Third decade. (a) Translation of Old Testament, 108. CHAPTER V Forms of Mission Work Introduction, 113. 1. Providential preparation, 1 13. Evangelistic Work, 114-118. 1. First Protestant Church in Japan, 114. 2. Churches in Kobe and Osaka, 114, 115. 3. Character of early Christians, 115. 4. Rapid increase in converts, 115. 5. Present numbers, 115, 116. 6. Emphasis on self-support, Il6-ll8. (1) Statistics, 116. (2) Individual examples, 116-I18. 7. Development of Japanese leadership, 118. Educational Work, 119- 131. 1. Two pioneer movements, 1 19-123. (1) Under Captain Jones, Kumamoto School, 119- 121. (2) Under President Clark, Sapporo Agricultural College, 121, 122. 2. The Doshisha, type of Christian School, 123-127. (1) Providential preparation of Neesima, 123, 124. 230 Analytical Index (2) Problem, Foreign vs. Japanese control, 124- 126. (X) Opening amid difficulties, 126. (4) Later problem, place of Bible in school, 127. 3. Other Christian schools, 127, 128. 4. Girls' schools, 1 28-1 31. (1) Extent of woman's work, 128. (2) First woman missionary, 128, 129. (a) First day school. (b) First boarding school. (3) Effect on home life, 129, 130. (4) Large number of girls' schools, 130. (c) Effect on government education, 130, 131. (a) Woman's University in Tokyo, 131. ' III. Medical Work, 131-134- 1. Value as a pioneer agency, 131, 132. 2. Growth of Government medical work, 132. 3] Present value as benevolent agency, 133. 4] Dr. Whitney's hospital, 133, 134- 5. Japanese Christian physicians, 134. 6. Work of Protestants, 134. 7. Work of Catholics, 134. CHAPTER VI Forms of Mission Work (Continued) IV. Philanthropic Work, 1 37- 142. 1. Modern growth of, 137, 138. 2. Christian benevolent institutions, 138. (1) Number, 138. (2) Okayama Orphanage, 138, 139. (a) Beginnings, 138. (b) Growth, 138, 139. (c) Reputation, 139. (3) Home for discharged prisoners, 140, 141. (a) Results, 140, 14*- (4) Reformatory work of Mr. Tomeoka, 141. 3. Influence on Buddhist philanthropy, 142. V. Literary Work, 142-145- 1. Thirty year contrast, 142. 2. Present Christian literature, 142. (1) Tracts, 143- (2) Books written by foreigners, 143, 144- (3) Periodicals, 144. (4) Editorials of secular press, 144, 145- (5) Books written by Japanese, 145. Analytical Index 231 AUXILIARY FORMS OF WORK. I. Young Men's Christian Association, 146-150. 1. Beginnings, 146. 2. Present influence, 147, 149. 3. Character of leaders, 147, 148. 4. Bible conferences, 149. 5. Work for government schools, 149, 150. 6. Signs of progress, 150. II. Young People's Societies, 150-152. 1. Christian Endeavor Society, 150. (1) First Christian Endeavor Society, 150, 15 1. (2) Dr. Clark's first visit, 151. (3) Eighth Annual Convention, 151, 152. (4) Statistics for 1902, 152. (5) Plans for future, 152. 2. Epworth League, 153. 3. Baptist Young People's Union, 153. III. Temperance Movement, 153-155. 1. Evils of sake drinking, 153, 154. 2. Results of work, 154, 155. IV. The Bible Society, 155, 156. 1. Organization, 155. 2. Growth of work, 155, 156. V. The Scripture Union, 156, 157. VI. The Salvation Army, 157, 158. 1. Organization, 157. 2. Results, 157. 3. Publications, 157. 4. Self-support, 157, 158. CHAPTER VII The Forces at Work I. Baptist, 161-164. 1. First missionary, 161, 1 62. 2. Union of work of two societies, 161. 3. Statistics for 1902, 162. 4. Mr. E. H. Jones, evangelist, 162, 163. 5. Duncan Academy, 163. 6. Evangelistic steam launch, 163, 164. 7. Work in Liu Kiu Islands, 164. II. Congregational, 164-168. I. Beginnings, 164, 165. 232 Analytical Index 2. Doshisha revival, 165. 3. Rapid growth of churches, 165. 4. Work in Hawaii, 165, 166. 5. Influence of the Doshisha, 166, 167. 6. Girls' schools, 167. 7. Medical work, 167, 168. 8. Publications, 168. III. Episcopalian, 168-17 1. 1. Beginnings, 168, 169. 2. Union of three missions, 169. 3. Rapid development, 169, 170. 4. Educational work, 170, 171. 5. Medical work, 171. 6. Publications, 171. IV. Methodist, 171-175. 1. The six societies, 171, 172. 2. Statistics for 1902, 172. 3. "Work for Japanese in California, 172-174. 4. Educational work, 174. 5. Publishing house, 174, 175. 6. Sociological work, 175. V. Presbyterians, 17 5- 180. 1. First church, 175. 2. Union of seven societies, 175, 176. 3. Statistics for 1902, 176, 177. 4. Work in Formosa, 177. 5. Educational work, 177, 178. 6. Publications, 178, 179. 7. Medical work, 179. 8. Leper work, 179, 180. VI. Other Protestant Evangelical Forces, 180-184. Statistics and how to interpret them, 180, 181. 1. Church of Christ, 181, 182. 2. Society of Friends, 182. 3. German Evangelistic Protestant Mission, 182, 183. 4. American Christian Convention, 183. 5. Scandinavian Alliance Mission, 183. 6. Christian and Missionary Alliance, 183. 7. Evangelical Lutheran Mission, 184. 8. Hephzibah Faith Mission, 184. VII. Non-Protestant Forces, 184-186. I. Roman Catholic, 184, 185. (1) Statistics for 1902, 184, 185. (2) Educational work, 185. Analytical Index 233 (3) Benevolent work, 185. (4) Medical and literary work, 185. Russian (Greek) Church, 185, 186. (1) Bishop Nicolai, 185, 186. (2) Statistics for 1902, 186. (3) Educational work, 186. CHAPTER VIII The Outlook I. The Reaction, 189-193. 1. Effect on church membership, 189, 190. 2. Causes of reaction, 190-193. (1) Ambition for political equality, 190, 191. (2) Superficial meaning of church membership, 191, 192. (3) Diffusion of " higher criticism," 192. (4) High social standards of church, 192, 193. II. The Forward Movement, 193-197. 1. Initiation of movement, 193, 194. 2. Organization in Tokyo, 194. 3. Success in Sendai, 194, 195. 4. Coming of leaders, 195. 5. Results in quickening faith, 195-197. 6. National scope of work, 197. III. Denominational Cooperation, 197-200. 1. Forming of Committee on Cooperation, 198. 2. Attitude of Episcopal Church, 198. 3. Call to prayer for Union, 198, 199. 4. Union Hymn Book Committee, 199, 200. IV. "When Will Japan Become a Christian Nation?" 200-204. 1. Lesson of the reaction, 200. 2. Need of a living message, 200, 201. 3. Prophecy of Dr. Arthur H. Smith, 201. 4. Three stages of growth of work, 201, 202. 5. Motive for evangelizing Japan, 202, 203. 6. Widespread influence of Christianity, 203. 7. A challenge to the Church, 203, 204. INDEX TO PROTESTANT MISSIONARY SOCIETIE8 AND STATIONS IN JAPAN The names of Missionary Societies laboring in Japanat theclose of 1898are given below in alphabetical orderof their shortened forms The numerals following Societi names indicate the year of their entrance upon work in Japan. In the index of stations the numerals immediately following the towns show what Societies are laboring in them, the numbers corresponding with those prefixed to the names of Societies. The letter and numeral at the ex- treme right of each town indicate the square in which the place may be found, and correspond with the letters and numerals in the margins of the map. Towns not containing Missionary residences are enclosed in parentheses. American. 25. World's W. C. T. U. (1886). 1. American Baptist Missionary Union 26. Y. M. C. A., International Committee (1860) . of (1889). British 2. American Rble Society (18 <6). 27- ( British and Foreign Bible Society. X A ™ Can B°ard of Foreign Missions ", National BibleS.*;ietvofScotland. (1S69). 28. Church Missionary Society (1869). 4. Baptist Southern Convention 1889) 29> Church ol Eng r land Missionaries, uncon- 3. Christian and Missionary Alliance (1891) — „,.„, 13S HO G aV La . Evangelical As-nrijlimi 1187c. 1". Kvacievlical railheran M' 11. Friends, s.cciety of (1885). U. Methodise. Church "I C.inada (1873). Episcopal Church, Nurth Copyright 1899, by Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions. SUN 1 3 1904