296 THE ETHICS OF JAPAN. 



pupils Avere supposed to gather around him ou.t of their admiration 

 for the personality of their master and for the purpose of receiving 

 his instructions and influence for their personal improvement and 

 future usefulness. Such being the case, it "A^as no wonder that the 

 relationship between a master and his pupil was regarded with so 

 much importance in ethics. 



Apart from these classifications the virtuous attributes of man are 

 spoken of in several other ways. We have first of all " wisdom, 

 humanity, and courage." These three are considered to be the three 

 greatest traits of character to be embodied in one person. Wisdom 

 may not exactly fall under the category of a virtue in its strictest 

 sense, but I suppose we need not be very critical on this point. In this 

 instance humanity — that is, '* jen " in the Chinese original — may be 

 interpreted as com])rising every other virtue besides mere merciful- 

 ness. There is another catalogue, viz, "humanity, justice, decorum, 

 wisdom, and faithfulness." These five are considered essential ele- 

 ments of virtue for regulating a community, and should be observed 

 by each member of it. There is another — " filial piety, brotherly 

 friendship, loyalty, and faithfulness; " these give guidance to a man 

 in his capacity of a son, a brother, a subject, and a friend. There is 

 j^et another — " sympathcticability, goodness, respectfulness, self- 

 restraint, and modesty." These are virtues considered important as 

 regards one's self-control. As to the women, " quietness, modesty, 

 and purity " are considered the ideal traits of their character, besides 

 all those which I have just described above, which are of course appli- 

 cable to women to an extent almost equal to men. 



In the West the term love plays an extensive part in governing all 

 the mutual relationships of the kinds enumerated above. The essence 

 of oriental ideas does not differ from it in its purport, but expressed 

 in Avords the Avord love does not play so extensive and imi)eratiA^e a 

 part as it does in the West, because in the Confucian doctrine differ- 

 ent technical terms are used, as Ave have already seen, to meet each 

 particular case. The Avord love is used A'ery sparingly in the Confu- 

 cian books, and it is used more especially for designating one kind of 

 A^irtue, as, for example, " extensive loA^e," meaning philanthropy in 

 the Avestern sense. The Avord " jen," Avhich ordinarily may be trans- 

 lated as humanity, more resembles the Avestern Avord love, because 

 that Avord " jen " may be interpreted in many Avays suitable to the 

 occasion on which it is used, almost in the same Avay, and in a similar 

 sense, that the Avord loA'e can be used. But the meaning of that Avord 

 '' jen " is more comprehensiA^e and deeper because it implies some 

 other meaning than mere attachment. I Avill not worry you by going 

 into full details of the interpretation of that Avord, as it is too tech- 

 nical. There is, hoAveA^er, one thing Avorth noticing about the Avord 

 love in Chinese. When that word is singled out it is also applicable 



